Florida Medicaid lawsuit trial begins

The trial involving a lawsuit accusing Florida officials of not providing adequate medical and dental services to more than 1 million Medicaid-eligible children got under way Monday (December 7), with the plaintiff's lawyers using officials' own words against them, according to an article in the New York Times.

''The biggest problem our agency faces is access to specialty care for Medicaid recipients,'' former Florida health secretary Andrew Agwunobi said at a Medicaid conference in 2007, the Times reported. But a year later, Agwunobi repeatedly said during a deposition that he couldn't recall making those statements, the Times said.

The state's attorney, Marcos Jimenez, said Agwunobi was referring to the entire state's Medicaid program, not just children's Medicaid.

The suit, filed in 2005, claims the state has failed to meet federal requirements that low-income children receive periodic health screenings and routine dental checkups. It was filed by the Florida Pediatric Society and Florida Academy of Pediatric Dentistry against the secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, the secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families, and the secretary of the Florida Department of Health.

The state has argued that the children and health providers don't have legal standing to pursue the claims because the Medicaid program promises money but not necessarily the delivery of health services.