A U.S. District Court judge will hear arguments June 19 in a lawsuit filed by Gov. Rick Scott against the federal government in a dispute about the Low Income Pool health-funding program.
Chief U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers issued an order Thursday scheduling the hearing on Scott's motion for a preliminary injunction in the case.
Scott filed the lawsuit April 28 amid a state budget impasse that stemmed heavily from questions about the future of the so-called LIP program and a dispute between the House and Senate about whether to offer health coverage to hundreds of thousands of low-income people.
Scott contends that the Obama administration has unconstitutionally tried to link expanding Medicaid with the continuation of LIP --- a contention that the federal government has called "baseless."
Attorneys for the state filed a motion last month seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent federal officials from linking the issues. Rodgers will hear the arguments at a federal courthouse in Pensacola.
