Christine Jordan Sexton
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said it’s “time to move forward” now that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld tax subsidies for people who enroll in the federal health care exchange.
“And I hope that this week’s Supreme Court decision will push us to do what I believe Americans want, which is to come together and focus on the substance and begin working to build an even better health care system. It’s time to move forward.”
The court ruled 6-3 in King v. Burwell to affirm the subsidies. Burwell said now the administration will focus on its next steps, including preventive health care. She also said the administration wants to focus on quality and access. She said there is “common ground” on the quality of care concerns and that there is a “real opportunity to make progress.”
Medicaid expansion continues to be a priority for the administration. Gov. Rick Scott opposes a Medicaid expansion and so does the Florida House of Representatives.
The Florida Senate, though, supports the expansion. In the regular 2015 Legislative Session and the recent Special Session the Senate passed a Medicaid expansion program called FHIX. The proposed expansion would have had work or school and co-payment requirements.
Opponents of the FHIX plan noted that even if the expansion was approved at the state level the federal government would not sign off on the plan. Burwell on Thursday said for states like Florida considering alternatives to traditional Medicaid expansion her agency considers the goal of the federal law, which is to provide low-income people with affordable health insurance, and balances that with providing the flexibility that some states need.
“I will admit they are conversations, because it is state by state. What’s a priority in one state is not necessarily a priority in another.”
She did not say whether the federal government would approve work requirements but did not that many of the low income people who would benefit from an expansion are working.
