- December 15, 2025
The county agreed to join a lawsuit against the state, opposing new Medicaid legislation.
The Flagler County Board of County Commissioners agreed Monday, April 16, to join the Florida Association of Counties in a 67-county class-action lawsuit against the state.
The suit is in opposition of a bill signed in March stating that all Medicaid charges currently assigned to Florida counties, whether they are in dispute or not, will automatically be deducted from county revenues.
Under the law, Flagler will owe more than $330,000 in disputed back-charges, not including increased future expenses.
“We’ve been asked to participate (in the suit),” County Administrator Craig Coffey told the board. “I don’t think it hurts us.”
To join, he added, Flagler must contribute $3,500 to the cause. But that’s a small price to pay, according to commissioners.
“It makes no sense for us not to be in this together, united, and send a message (to the state) to rethink its position,” Commissioner Milissa Holland said. “These kinds of decisions affect us today, tomorrow and in the long term.”
All other commissioners agreed.
“The danger here isn’t so much trying to recoup the (back) fees,” added Commissioner Alan Peterson, who sits on the Association of Counties board. “The problem (is) that this will continue year after year. … The danger is significant. … And if you read the Constitution as it’s written, we should prevail.”
According to County Attorney Al Hadeed, Peterson is exactly right. “If the Legislature wants to impose a (charge) on us … it must only do so by a two-thirds vote of the House and a two-thirds vote of the Senate which, in this bill, it did not achieve,” he said. “It violates the Constitution.”
He also called the bill “crazy legislation” and an unfunded mandate.
“What is particularly exacerbating here is that the charges that are being made … are being acknowledged by a (glitchy) computer system.”
In a recent conference call with the Association of Counties, Peterson added that a unanimous vote was also received there to file suit.
Of 138 total bills received by the state — 62 of which have so far been reviewed by county staff — Coffey told the board that four bills totaling $7,357 have been deemed invalid. Alachua County, he added, has a worker on staff whose sole responsibility it is to review Medicaid claims.
“I think there’s a time you stand up as a community,” Holland added, “and this is one of those times.”
