ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – If you’re a St. Johns County taxpayer, you may be stuck wrongfully footing others Medicaid bills, according to St. Johns County officials who have just filed a lawsuit against the state.
"We think there are just some pure, outright errors,” said St. Johns County Attorney Patrick McCormack.
McCormack is referring to a bill from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) for $763,268 in outstanding backlog bills dating back to 2001.
"There are lots of errors in terms of getting re-billed for claims the county has already paid and getting double-billed for the same claim,” said McCormack.
He says they’re also getting billed for people who don’t live in St. Johns County. County officials sent us a list of locations in Duval, Volusia, Seminole, Clay, Citrus, Palm Beach, Brevard, Flagler, and Hillsborough.
Some patients even gave 500 San Sebastian View as their address, and they’re pretty sure no one lives inside the County Administration building.
When Action News reached out to AHCA, the state agency in charge of the calculations, they sent us this statement:
“AHCA contests the factual and legal assertions alleged in St. Johns County’s petition and will respond accordingly in the administrative proceedings concerning same.”
St. Johns County is just hoping they get a response sometime before they start having to foot the bill.
"We think our records are better than the state's and we're prepared to go to hearing to prove that,” McCormack said.
The county is requesting mediation and a formal administrative hearing.
Starting October 1, the state could start withholding the county’s revenue-sharing funds for the next five years until the bill is fully recouped.
In addition to this lawsuit, St. Johns County is also one of 57 counties suing the state alongside the Florida Association of Counties over the constitutionality of the 2012 Medicaid Billing Law.
