Ever since the Florida House adjourned three days early so it wouldn’t have to talk about accepting $51 billion in federal Medicaid dollars, people have been pretty pissed off.
The likely disappearance of over a billion in federal Low Income Pool (LIP) money, which the state had collected yearly to reimburse hospitals that care for the poor, has people worried how hospitals are going to plug that gap.
On Tuesday, demonstrators protested outside the district office of State Rep. Kathleen Peters (R-South Pasadena) on 66th Street in St. Petersburg, ostensibly hoping to shame her and her colleagues into returning to Tallahassee to resume the legislative session and, ultimately, take the federal Medicaid money. The money would fund a state insurance program that would provide low-cost coverage to people who fall into Florida’s health care gap because they can’t afford insurance premiums on their own, but aren’t poor enough to qualify for Medicaid currently.
“I think it’s a travesty, frankly,” said activist Terrie Weeks. “They are so unwilling to give the working poor healthcare and help the Florida economy that they are willing to walk away from their constitutional obligation to pass a budget. I think it’s shameful.”
Some of the demonstrators were dressed in black robes and white masks to illustrate the grim consequences of having a million Floridians go without insurance, which they say kills an average of five to six Floridians each day.
Jayson James, who is a member of the Bay Area Activist Coalition, said prior to the Affordable Care Act, he had a brain tumor, which health insurance companies deemed a preexisting condition and thus denied him coverage.
“Before Obamacare, I could not get health coverage on my own,” he said. “And I had employers for several years that did not offer it. So because of that, my tumor came back and I had to have another brain surgery. There was a time when I was unemployed and because I am not officially disabled I couldn’t get Medicaid.”
Olivia Babis, the chief organizer for the Florida Consumer Action Network, said what boggles her mind is that the Medicaid expansion proposal that was on the table was supported by most Republicans in the Senate as well as a large swath of the general population, namely the business and healthcare communities.
“We’ve got doctors behind this, we’ve got the business community behind this, the majority of Floridians are behind this—so it’s really just a few members of the House that are really blocking what the entire state says what it wants,” Babis said.
She thought healthcare expansion had a real shot when Senate President Andy Gardiner began to talk about the plan with federal officials, and her sense of hope grew when when State House Speaker Steve Crisafulli said “never say never” on Medicaid expansion.
“We’ve seen this pass in 28 states, a lot of them Republican states so we were holding up hope that this might work, that they weren’t going to play politics this time, that they were going to give it serious consideration,” she said.
Now, the only hope advocates of Medicaid expansion have is a probable special legislative session that could take place next month.
Babis said she’s optimistic about the proposal gaining traction then.
“The Senate seems like it’s not backing down on this, that it’s rather insistent that Medicaid expansion be included in the budget, that they’re being realistic in seeing that this is going to be a financial crisis for health care in the state, that hospitals are facing potential bankruptcy.”
Activists said Tuesday that Peters’ office likely won’t be the only place they protest; they are considering holding similar demonstrations outside the district offices of State Rep. Dana Young and House Speaker Designate Richard Corcoran (R-Lutz).
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2015.
