Miami-Dade County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to change a county ordinance that governs Jackson Health System, allowing the Miami-based hospital network to keep its budget surpluses, according to the Miami Herald.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, who sponsored the ordinance amendment, told the Miami Herald that the purpose of the change is to ensure Jackson has enough cash on hand for at least a year.
Under the change, commissioners waived their power to use Jackson's budget surpluses. Now, Jackson's governing board will control the system's cash reserves until they reach about $1.8 billion, or enough to sustain operations for a year.
The change comes as Florida's Low Income Pool program funding is scheduled to significantly drop. Florida has had a Medicaid waiver since 2005, and the state received between $1 billion and $2 billion from the federal government annually to support its LIP program to aid the state's safety-net hospitals. After a stand off between Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the federal government, CMS agreed in May 2015 to provide Florida with $1.1 billion for its LIP program for the year that ends June 30. For the following year, that number will drop to about $600 million.
Jackson CEO Carlo Migoya told the Miami Herald that Jackson has lost about $120 million over the past two years because of reductions in LIP funding.
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