Although the individual mandate provision of the federal law has been challenged and will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, the fact of the matter is, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land in America – not that you'd know that here in Florida, where the Governor and Legislature have rejected over $69 million in federal funds to carry out provisions of the controversial law.
Florida is in fact one of just 11 states that have not started the legislative process of setting set up an exchange, according to Dave Chandra, policy analyst for the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, in Washington, D.C.
But state Democrats are holding town hall meetings throughout the state to inform their constituents about what the law is doing now, and what it will do so in the future.
At a meeting held at the West Tampa Library, Representative Janet Cruz said she was breaking what she called a "gag order" imposed by Republican leadership on publicly discussing the benefits, while her colleague, St. Pete Representative Darryl Rouson blasted Governor Rick Scott, saying that at a recent meeting with the state's Black Caucus, he "insulted us royally," by continuing to refer to President Obama by his last name only, and calling the health care law "ObamaCare."
"It's shameful that we lead this multi-state efford to defeat this legislation," Rouson added.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2011.