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On Monday, Florida Governor Rick Scott sent a letter to the United States Congress majority leader calling for the body to “repeal and replace” Obamacare.
Scott’s position on what he calls the “excessive overreach” of Obamacare is not necessarily a surprise, given his historic opposition to the president’s approach to the Affordable Care Act.
However, it is newly salient in light of Republican control of the executive and legislative branches.
“For far too long, it has been fashionable in Washington to say Obamacare can only be tweaked. We have seen debate after debate in Washington about this bad law but nothing has been changed. It has to be completely overhauled and now is the time to do it. We cannot let the usual political games or partisan gridlock of Washington get in the way of immediately repealing and replacing Obamacare with a plan that actually works,” Scott noted.
“The impact of Obamacare has been devastating in Florida and our nation. Obamacare was sold on a lie from the very start. Costs are skyrocketing, people have not been able to keep their doctors and many people have fewer doctors to choose from. The increases in health care costs are at a 32-year high and are expected to continue increasing in the coming months. Recent news of Obamacare rates rising 25 percent is absurd and families simply cannot afford it. We can do better and the families and businesses footing the bill deserve better,” Scott added.
In the five-page letter, Scott advocated for “state flexibility,” rather than a “one size fits all” approach to the replacement.
“Specifically,” Scott wrote, “our state needs the greatest possible amount of flexibility from Washington … without creating a massive government program that makes promises to patients that we could never afford to keep.”
Scott’s letter laid out the governor’s suggestions for replacement.
One suggestion: to repeal the individual and employer mandates, allowing people to choose to deposit funds into a health savings account instead of giving the money to an insurance company.
Scott also urged the allowance of insurance companies to sell across state lines, which currently isn’t an option.
Scott also backs greater flexibility in packages sold, and allowing families to opt for a single plan for the entire family, rather than one plan for children and another for adults.
Regarding the state’s needs, Scott told the House Majority Leader that he’d like Florida to have “flexibility to run our own Medicaid program that uses the state’s successful managed care model.”
Scott would also like to see the elimination of “burdensome” Obama regulations, such as the Managed Care Rule, the Access Rule, and the Outpatient Drug Rule, examples of “intensive but often purposeless federal micromanagement” that privileges federal bureaucracy at the expense of the state process.
3 comments
Steve Carbone
January 10, 2017 at 10:34 am
As an Agent for Healthcare in Florida, I agree with Gov Scott. We also need to eliminate the open enrollment period, exchange websites and navigators who know nothing about insurance, just how the system is designed to corral and herd people like sheep. We have very qualified agents available throughout Florida who have been advising people for years. So allow folks to sign up at anytime during the year, encourage them to use agents and let the carriers websites be used to enroll families like was done before 2014!
Brad Tutek
January 10, 2017 at 11:24 am
Rick Scott is a. Thief who got Rich ripping off Medicare and Floridians! He has no authority or business commenting on health care!!
margaret gold
January 11, 2017 at 9:26 am
You are not serving the people of Florida with misquoted information regarding costs. The costs prior to ACA rose at a greater pace than they have since ACA. Furthermore each state has different laws regarding healthcare, therefore how is selling across state lines going to address that matter. You may get lower cost but it may not be comparable coverage and the consumer is left trying to figure out theae complex issues with no help or recourse. In addition, you neglect to address all the issues that were problematic before ACA 1. lifetime caps, 2. more expensive healthcare for women, 3. pre existing conditions 4. an under use of free preventitve care and an over use of emergency rooms causing emergancy room costs,to sky rocket.
Choice is not better when you dont provide better choices.
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