409.918 Public Medical Assistance Trust Fund.—It is declared that access to adequate health care is a right which should be available to all Floridians. However, rapidly increasing health care costs threaten to make such care unaffordable for many citizens. The Legislature finds that unreimbursed health care services provided to persons who are unable to pay for such services cause the cost of services to paying patients to increase in a manner unrelated to the actual cost of services delivered. Further, the Legislature finds that inequities between hospitals in the provision of unreimbursed services prevent hospitals that provide the bulk of such services from competing on an equitable economic basis with hospitals that provide relatively little care to indigent persons. Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to provide a method for funding the provision of health care services to indigent persons, the cost of which shall be borne by the state and by hospitals that are granted the privilege of operating in this state.
(1) All moneys collected pursuant to s. 395.701 shall be deposited into the Public Medical Assistance Trust Fund, which is hereby created.
(2) Moneys deposited into the Public Medical Assistance Trust Fund shall be used solely for the purposes specified by law.
History.—ss. 5, 7, ch. 84-35; s. 11, ch. 87-92; s. 25, ch. 88-294; s. 6, ch. 89-355; s. 48, ch. 91-282; s. 79, ch. 92-289; s. 9, ch. 96-417.
