Florida health care agency: Feds should be fine with family planning opt-out for Medicaid

A spokeswoman for Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration said yesterday in a statement to The Florida Independent that it believes Florida’s plan to allow Medicaid providers the option of not providing family planning “is in compliance with federal requirements.” # The agency is currently in charge of writing up proposals of Florida’s Medicaid reform program to show the federal government for approval. The agency is not expressing any concerns that the federal government might strike down an opt-out provision for family planning . # This past legislative session, the state Legislature added a provision to its Medicaid overhaul that allows Medicaid providers to choose to not provide family planning services for “moral or religious” reasons, as requested by Florida Catholic Services