Gov. Scott slashes cost estimate for Medicaid expansion

By Sam Baker - 01/10/13 12:14 PM ET

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has shaved more than $20 billion off of his cost estimate for the Medicaid expansion in President Obama's healthcare law.

The Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday night that Scott has acknowledged the expansion would only cost the state about $5 billion over the next decade — a big drop from the $25 billion estimate he has been using to argue that the policy was unaffordable.

The Affordable Care Act expands Medicaid eligibility to people making up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line, and the federal government initially covers the entire cost of the expansion. The federal share gradually falls to 90 percent.

Republican governors have largely resisted the expansion, and Scott has been one of the healthcare law's most adamant critics. But he drew criticism this week for reportedly sticking with cost estimates he knew to be inaccurate.

Scott's administration changed its estimates to assume that the federal government would follow through on its commitment to pay for at least 90 percent of the expansion, the Sentinel reported.