In Panhandle, Welfare Change May Be More Compli - Flash Player Installation

In Panhandle, Welfare Change May Be More Compli - Flash Player Installation

Pensacola resident Julia Pearsall says she knows glitches will happen as Florida transforms Medicaid into a mandatory managed-care program.

But Pearsall particularly worries about glitches in the Pensacola area --- where, unlike most of the state, HMOs aren’t already serving Medicaid beneficiaries.

“What happens in the short run can be a matter of life and death to the recipients,’’ said Pearsall, who has long worked on social-service issues.

Pearsall and an estimated 125 other people turned out Monday for a public hearing to discuss the massive Medicaid overhaul that lawmakers passed last month. It was the first hearing outside Tallahassee, as the Agency for Health Care Administration barnstorms across the state to take public comments about the overhaul.

Many of the Pensacola concerns echoed those in a Tallahassee hearing Friday. The loudest came from ....