WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A friend of the court brief was filed on Friday to back the lawsuit against President Barack Obama administration’s attempt to coerce the US state of Florida to expand the heath program Medicaid under Obamacare, according to a release from the office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
“Governor Greg Abbott today filed an amicus brief in support of [Florida] Governor Rick Scott and the State of Florida’s lawsuit against the Obama administration’s unlawful attempt to coerce the State of Florida into a massive expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act,” the release read on Friday.
Medicaid is a social health care program for families and individuals in the United States with low income and limited resources.
The dispute in Florida centres on a $2.2 billion program, the so-called Low Income Pool, which provides funding to Florida hospitals that treat uninsured patients.
Abbott explained that the US federal government has overstepped its constitutional authority and ignored the Supreme Court’s decision in the NFIB v. Sebelius case, “where the Court held that Congress could not coerce States into accepting a massive expansion of an already broken and bloated Medicaid program.”
Abbott also noted that the US Department of Health and Human Services has threatened to withhold billions of dollars in Medicaid payments from Florida, issuing similar threats to Texas, Kansas and to other US states.
“These threats are surely just the beginning of a nationwide campaign to hold hostage federal waiver dollars in those States who are standing firm on their constitutional right to refuse the new Medicaid,” Abbott said.
Governor Scott filed the lawsuit against the US government on April 17, 2015.
