via A Florida Lawmaker Critiques Health Care Law : NPR.

The information, in a document dated Friday, indicates that the number of beneficiaries enrolled in HMOs and another type of managed-care plan is expected to double — and possibly triple — by the end of 2014.

Also, with the state divided into 11 Medicaid regions, it says beneficiaries would move into managed-care plans in a “staggered” fashion and that timelines would be developed for each county.

via Agency details Medicaid plan | The News-Press | news-press.com.

The Obama administration wants to cover 30 million more people by providing incentives for nearly everyone to buy insurance. The Affordable Care Act expands government programs such as Medicaid, offers subsidies for lower-income people and imposes a penalty for those who don’t sign up with a private, employer-based or government plan.

Now the individual mandate to buy insurance is in the cross hairs of a challenge to the law by Florida, 25 other states and business groups before the U.S. Supreme Court. Among other objections, opponents say forcing people to purchase insurance or pay a penalty is a step too far, an unconstitutional overreach by the government.

The court’s decision, expected as a landmark ruling in June or July, could uphold the law, strike it down or perhaps kill the mandate while leaving other parts intact.

But if the law and the mandate survive, there’s still a fundamental problem with incentives, said Bruce Vogel, associate professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Policy at the University of Florida’s College of Medicine.

via Experts see few barriers to stop people from buying health-care coverage only when sick.

The Hillsborough County Commission on Wednesday unanimously backed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a plan to collect local Medicaid payments before billing. It approved spending $5,000 for legal costs in the Florida Association of Counties lawsuit to be filed soon in Leon County Circuit Court.

via Hillsborough joins Medicaid lawsuit | TBO.com.

The language would require the agency to continue allowing dentists to bill for Medicaid patients under the traditional fee-for-service system in areas outside Miami-Dade County, but would expire in July 2013. The Agency for Health Care Administration announced it was delaying the statewide implementation of the managed care system after the language was approved by the Legislature.

via Budget would delay statewide Medicaid managed care for dentistry | The Florida Current.

via JURIST – Forum: Medicaid in the Supreme Court: Small Errors, Big Problems.

via Crovitz: Complexity Is Bad for Your Health – WSJ.com.

The Eric Pfeiffer PET Imaging Center, named in honor of Dr. Pfeiffer (above),

houses the first onsite PET scanner in an Alzheimer’s facility in Florida.

via » Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute.

For patients who already have some symptoms of cognitive decline, a positive scan suggests that moderate to frequent amyloid plaques are present in the brain, which is consistent with Alzheimer’s disease.

via FDA Approves Alzheimer’s Test Developed by Eli Lilly – WSJ.com.