The vast majority of State Senators voted, not surprisingly, in favor of a plan Wednesday to accept federal Medicaid money that would help hundreds of thousands of low-income Floridians get insured.
"This is a really good proposal," Senate President Andy Gardiner said after the vote. “We brought this forward because we're looking at a long-term solution.”
It's an issue that's been at the heart of an impasse between the House and Senate and the main reason lawmakers are stuck in Tallahassee, possibly until June 20th.
Even Democrats, who largely view the proposal as needlessly compromised, applauded the measure's passage.
"While the bill is not perfect, the bipartisan leadership shown by the State Senate is exactly what the people of Florida are looking for in their legislature," Florida Democratic Party chair Alison Tant said in a written statement. "Every step of the way Democrats have been proud to stand up for health care for working Floridians."
Now the onus is on the House to take up the controversial bill, which was made more palatable for them by reducing the eligibility pool and beefing up the work requirement.
The House is supposed to take it up today, and Democratic Representative Mia Jones is likely to be its reluctant sponsor.
“It is past time for the Republican leaders of the Florida House to support this common sense, bipartisan plan," Tant said. "It is unconscionable that wealthy Republican legislators pay just $30 a month for health care while hundreds of thousands of working Floridians — and tens of thousands of veterans — cannot afford quality care. Floridians deserve better than the House Republicans’ Washington-style dysfunction and brinksmanship."
To activists in favor of accepting Medicaid money, Florida could have a health care crisis on its hands.
The U.S. Supreme Court will issue a decision on King v. Burwell, a lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare, the law that makes the Medicaid money available), this month. If it goes in favor of the plaintiff, health care subsidies to low- and middle-income Floridians, which are provided through the federal exchange, could go up in smoke.
“For Florida, the number of uninsured would rise if the Supreme Court rules for the plaintiffs … by 1.073 million,” said Joan Alker of Georgetown University Health Policy Institute during a conference call Thursday.
Combined with those who currently fall in the coverage gap, that makes nearly two million Floridians, she said.
Alker was on a call with officials from the League of Women Voters' Florida branch, and was trying to dispel myths about the Senate's proposal.
She added that “pretty much all the states that have expanded have seen savings to far,” about $1.8 billion across eight states, and that uninsured rates have dropped sharply.
Another myth she sought to dispel was the one having to do with what happens if the federal government were to pull out of the states. Medicaid expansion opponents say the state would be left holding the bag.
Not so, said Alker.
“The Senate plan in any event includes provisions for the state to pull out,” she said.
The House is expected to take up the measure Friday, though the Tampa Bay Times is reporting there are likely to be at least ten no-shows (six Democrats, four Republicans). House Speaker Steve Crisafulli had been resistant to having the discussion in the past, but has since said the House will take up the health care compromise "out of respect" for the Senate.
