Opinion: Another FL healthcare crisis

The rejection of federal funds for Medicaid expansion by leaders in Tallahassee was never a smart decision. Now it looks even worse as the feds prepare to shut down a healthcare pipeline that pours about $1.3 billion into a statewide program that aids hospitals that care for Florida's neediest. Federal subsidies for "safety-net" hospitals — under a program known as LIP, the Low Income Pool — are set to expire at the end of June. LIP mitigates the cost of providing healthcare to the under-insured and uninsured. It's being eliminated because the Affordable Care Act was supposed to reduce the need for such supplemental funding by increasing the number of Americans with healthcare coverage.