Lawsuit Filed against Florida’s Medicaid Program for Insufficient Notification of Enrollment Termination

Medicaid beneficiaries have filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida, alleging that they were not adequately notified before being removed from the program following the conclusion of a federal public health emergency declared in 2020. The trial is scheduled for May 13 and will be presided over by U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard from Jacksonville.

The lawsuit, which was initially filed in August as a potential class-action, is based on the termination of the public health emergency last spring. During the emergency, Medicaid received increased funding from both federal and state governments, with Washington agreeing to increase its financial support for the program on the condition that states would not remove individuals from the rolls during the emergency. However, after the emergency ended, Florida’s Medicaid program saw a significant decrease in enrollment numbers from nearly 5.78 million in April 2023 to about 4.8 million as of February, according to data available on the state Agency for Health Care Administration website.

Attorneys representing Medicaid beneficiaries argued that individuals who may not have qualified based on income levels were not dropped from the program during the emergency, leading to an increase in enrollment numbers. They brought an amended version of their lawsuit in January and are seeking damages for those who were wrongfully removed from the program following