Florida Returns Feds' Healthcare Check

A Florida official has rejected a $1 million federal grant designed to assist the state with health care changes, The Buzz blog of the St. Petersburg Times reports. State Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty returned the money unspent this week to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in response to a federal court's ruling that the national health care law is unconstitutional.

"No drawdown of any of the $1 million will occur," McCarty wrote in a letter to HHS.

The rejection of funds coincides with Gov. Rick Scott's (pictured) decision to halt implementation of the law in Florida until the issue is settled. He and another state's official, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, both said this week's ruling against the statute by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson clears them of having to carry it out.

"This means that, for Wisconsin, the federal health care law is dead," Van Hollen said in a statement.