Unprecedented Florida Medicaid Changes Risks Patients' Health, APA Says

Today the American Psychiatric Association warned that Florida's enactment of new Medicaid legislation puts people with mental illness at serious risk. The unprecedented and most harmful aspect of the law is a requirement that  'each year' a patient must first fail on the cheapest mandated medications before the patient is given access to the medication his or her physician believes is optimal, even where the patient has been successfully treated with the physician chosen medication.

This major health policy setback will help ensure that patients are less likely to get relief from their illness, less likely to experience full remission, and more at risk for adverse outcomes and devastating side effects. Worse, Florida - a bellwether state on Medicaid policy - could ignite a nationwide trend toward public health policies that are regressive and clearly not formulated with patient welfare in mind. Florida's cost-savings expectations will prove illusory at the expense of a vulnerable population.

The American Psychiatric Association believes that the implementation of the new policy will create a statewide mental health emergency. (Excerpt from APA statement).