With just days before the state legislature has another go at being functional during the three-week special session that starts next week, advocates for expanded health coverage are pitching the idea across the state.
On Wednesday morning, Congresswoman Kathy Castor, two Democratic State House members and a handful of health care industry spokespeople urged members of the public to call their legislators and demand that they consider a plan to accept billions in federal money to expand Medicaid.
“We really need to, as a matter of compassion and humanity, cover some of the 800,000 people, many of which are working," said State Rep. Dwight Dudley, a St. Petersburg Democrat. "Some are working two jobs to try to make ends meet…This is a crucial thing and a great opportunity to do good.”
State Rep. Janet Cruz called health coverage a right, not a privilege, and said the benefits of accepting Medicaid money from the feds goes beyond having the satisfaction that comes from doing the right thing — there's an economic benefit, too.
“It's a travesty," Cruz, a Tampa Democrat said. "And when I walk away from Tallahassee, I don't want to be known, and I don't want to be remembered for funding stadiums. I don't want to be remembered for funding transportation. I want to be remembered for saving lives. Almost 5,800 people die each year because they can't afford … coverage. So they show up in an emergency room in critical condition.”
The press conference was the latest in a series of pleas for Governor Rick Scott and the State House to reconsider their position on accepting billions in Medicaid money (albeit through the Affordable Care Act, known derisively as Obamacare) to make available more low-cost health coverage. It's also among the latest that's likely to fall upon deaf ears, given Scott's and the House's DEFCON 10-level opposition to anything proposed by Democrats, especially one Barack Obama.
The hope of Wednesday's press conference, and others, was to show how diverse support is for such a policy in Florida. It was held at the St. Pete Chamber of Commerce headquarters and attended by union representatives and health care industry workers.
Bruce Reuben of the Florida Hospital Association echoed Cruz's assertion that equipping people with the ability to go to a doctor before a health condition becomes severe is just common sense.
“If we are able to get people covered and keep them healthy longer, and then have them seek care at the earliest moment in their illness, we are going to have a much more cost-effective health care delivery system," he said. "Which means that all of our uncompensated care would be dramatically reduced.”
Those who oppose it say they're concerned that the federal government may stop funding it some point, leaving the state in the lurch to the tune of billions. Dudley said that ought not to be a concern.
"We're well covered by the federal government in this matter," he said. "If it doesn't work out, certainly the program could be sunsetted.”
But another pot of money, the low income pool, is in the midst of sunsetting now.
The $2.2 billion pot of federal money reimburses hospitals that treat poor and low-income people. It was set to go away this year, but federal officials now say it will come back — but only half of it, and it will likely disappear next year.
“If House Republicans do not compromise, cuts to hospitals in our community and across the state of Florida will cost jobs, it will cost us our money, and it will cost lives," Castor said. "So we're asking all of our neighbors across the Tampa Bay area who rely on St. Anthony's, who rely on Tampa General Hospital, who rely on Bayfront, who rely on St. Joseph's hospital, Morton Plant-Mease, to contact their state representatives now, and urge them to bring out tax dollars home.”
Even the White House has been chiming in.
On Wednesday, reports the Tampa Bay Times' Patricia Mazzei, a spokesman for President Obama, chided Scott and other opponents to Medicaid expansion as politically motivated.
"We have demonstrated a willingness to work closely with state leaders to tailor solutions" to their residents, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said when asked about the issue in a conference call with Florida reporters. "The refusal of Republican officials in Florida to put the interests of their citizens ahead of their own political arguments is something that we've been disappointed by.
Despite the full-court press from Republicans, Democrats, business leaders, health care professionals, progressive activists and others—not to mention a newly minted revised health coverage plan, that further compromises the Senate's position, chances are, those who oppose it are going to keep doing so.
"There's no agreement on any of this," Gardiner, R-Orlando, conceded to reporters in a meeting Tuesday, according to the News Service of Florida's Brandon Larrabee. "I think what we're just trying to show here in the Senate is that we're willing to have an open mind and put forward different ideas and suggestions, and then we'll see what happens next week."
This article appears in May 21-27, 2015.