US EditionCampaign delays push to expand Medicaid in Florida until 2028, citing new state law
New petition restrictions limit signature collection and bar non-citizens, delaying Medicaid expansion ballot efforts until 2028, campaign officials say.
- A campaign to expand Medicaid in Florida is delaying its push to get the issue on the ballot until 2028, citing a new state law restricting the process to get constitutional amendments before voters.
- The law signed by DeSantis in May sets new limits on how many petitions Florida voters can collect in their effort to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot, a provision punishable by a felony if voters violate it.
- The campaign said that by passing the new law known as H.B. 1205, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the GOP-controlled Legislature changed the ballot initiative rules mid-campaign in a way that deliberately undermined the group's push to gather enough petition signatures from Florida voters to get the measure on the 2026 ballot.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Push to expand Medicaid in Florida delayed by two years
Florida Decides Healthcare Executive Director Mitch Emerson talks to reporters in Tallahassee outside the federal courthouse on May 22, 2025. (Photo by Christine Sexton/Florida Phoenix)Saying the state’s new limits on ballot initiatives were too great to immediately overcome, Florida Decides Healthcare announced Thursday that it is putting the brakes on efforts to get a proposed constitutional amendment on Medicaid expansion on the 2026 ballot …
Florida's Medicaid expansion effort delayed until 2028 as petition costs soar
Floridas most ambitious citizen-led push to expand Medicaid has hit a wall. Florida Decides Healthcare (FDH), the group leading the campaign, announced this week it is suspending efforts to qualify the measure for the November 2026 ballot, citing steep new costs and rules created by HB 1205, a sweeping petition-law overhaul signed earlier this year.FDH officials say the law has made their work virtually impossible. What once cost hundreds of tho…
Medicaid expansion amendment delayed to 2028 ballot
Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment that would expand eligibility for Medicaid coverage have shelved putting the measure on the 2026 ballot and will try to take the issue to voters in 2028. Florida Decides Healthcare, a political committee sponsoring the proposal, announced the change Thursday and said it stemmed from a new state law (HB 1205) that made it harder to reach the ballot. Florida Decides Healthcare and supporters of other …
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