Gov. Rick Scott’s support for Medicaid expansion is a positive development. However, the Legislature will have to reconcile its different political and ideological views regarding this issue.

Florida won its request for a waiver granting a statewide expansion of the Medicaid managed care program. That means Medicaid recipients will be coerced to join managed care companies, which will receive funding to run the program. Unfortunately, this isn’t only bad news for Floridians who will experience service denials and rationing of care, but it’s even worse news for healthcare providers who receive reimbursements as low as $15 per patient.

Who will implement and monitor accountability and transparency measures to curtail managed-care abuse? In the end we will create a new robber-baron class — managed care company executives who are being showered with billions of federal dollars. Physicians and patients will be the recipients of trickle-down healthcare economics.

Bernd Wollschlaeger, M.D., North Miami Beach