Mitch Perry
Last month, Wyoming Governor Matt Mead became the latest Republican governor to say that he would press his state legislature to act on a Medicaid expansion plan. Wyoming is one of a handful of Republican-led states that has negotiated with the federal Department of Health and Human Services to come up with their own version of Medicaid expansion.
A proposal for Florida to come up with its own hybrid plan on Medicaid expansion went down to defeat in the state Senate in 2013, and since then neither the GOP-led Legislature, nor Governor Rick Scott, have revisited the issue.
But a surprising number of people in the Sunshine State are optimistic that 2015 could be a different story – though so far in Tallahassee, there has been little said or done at this juncture to indicate any true change of philosophy.
“This is such an important issue, when you feel like you’re choosing between living your life and just being alive,” said Olivia Babis with the Florida Consumer Action Network. Babis was one of ten activists on Thursday who descended upon the New Tampa office of recently elected state Representative Shawn Harrison. Babis was born with a disability and calls the issue of health care an extremely personal one for herself. She said that before the Affordable Care Act was enacted, concerns with having a pre-existing condition and life-time caps in her coverage were the realities that she had to contend with.
Representative Harrison was in Tallahassee for legislative business this week. During the campaign he said he was not opposed to the idea completely of expanding Medicaid.
“I definitely think he understands that individuals are in need of health care,” said Chad Riese, who worked on Harrison’s campaign for the House District 63 seat last year and in 2012. “He’s seen at the grassroots level (the need) from people who are working with him, and how many of them there are,” says Riese.
Riese would be one of the approximately 850,000 people currently without medical coverage today who would get insurance if the state opted to take on Medicaid expansion. A recent political science graduate from USF, he currently works two jobs to make ends meet. He was diagnosed just two years ago with epilepsy, and now has over $100,000 in medical bills. He says he’s optimistic about the chances that the Legislature may move this year on the issue, saying, “I think we’ll hear a lot of the voices of the individuals (in the Legislature) – not just the Speaker or the Governor.”
Kofi Hunt, program coordinator with the activist group Awake Pinellas, also is optimistic that 2015 could be a different story, in part because of the fact that a number of hospitals have recently closed, such as Edward White Hospital in St. Petersburg last fall. “You have businesses coming together, and a lot of Republicans are talking up Medicaid expansion that would fit the leadership in the Florida Legislature. So I feel confident that if they’re willing to compromise and go beyond partisan politics, we can see a version of Medicaid expansion pass to help the working families of Florida.”
More than $2 billion that the federal government currently provides to hospitals as a “low-income pool” that compensates them for treating uninsured people is due to expire on July 1.
Last year, Florida had asked that the federal government to more than double that funding to $4.5 billion. But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services granted the state only $2.17 billion. CMS also told the state that the authority for that payment was only being extended into 2015, not the three years sought by the state.
Today’s action in Tampa was mirrored in Miami, Orlando and Tallahassee. They were coordinated Health Care for Florida Now, a coalition of nearly 100 organizations across the state dedicated to ensuring Florida takes advantage of this unprecedented opportunity.
