Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, who admitted that his family relied on Medicaid, now he stands in the way of expanding the program to more people in the state. (Photo courtesy of Florida Legislature)
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, admitted that his family relied on Medicaid when they were struggling and his baby brother was dying of cancer.
The information came out as the speaker leads the push against expanding Medicaid to more people in the state, even though the federal government will pick up the entire tab for the first three years of expansion.
The Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald reported the news after following up on a speech Weatherford gave in which he described how his father had relied on a medical “safety net” when he was younger. In the speech, Weatherford said he believed in a “safety net” because his father had one.
“Peter lost his battle with cancer, and my father found himself with a mountain of medical bills that he could never afford to pay,” Weatherford said on the House floor as he spoke against plans for Medicaid expansion. “It was the safety net that picked my father up. It was the safety net that picked my family up.”
But Weatherford didn’t mention that the safety net was Medicaid.
The Times/Herald spoke to Weatherford’s father and reported:
The federal-state health care program for the poor covered more than $100,000 in Peter’s medical costs, Weatherford’s father told the Times/Herald.
“There was no way I could pay that,” said Bill Weatherford, 62, when reached by phone in Odessa.
The House speaker, asked later, said Medicaid did not help cover his brother’s hospital bills and that he thinks his father was mistaken. He said he would look into the matter.
“I don’t know the specifics of what happened,” said Weatherford, who was 15 when his brother died in 1995. “I know my brother had cancer, I know we were uninsured, and I know they weren’t able to pay their bills.”
…
Bill Weatherford said after he was told that Peter needed a second surgery, he told hospital administrators that he couldn’t pay for the first one. He said the hospital had him sign documents that determined he was eligible for Medicaid. He said he doesn’t remember seeing a bill or invoice after that, but said he estimates total costs were above $100,000.
Will Weatherford said he thinks the costs were covered by uncompensated care, a type of medical service that does not get reimbursed.
On Wednesday, Weatherford agreed that his father was right and Medicaid was the government program that assisted his family.
The Times/Herald reports: “Will Weatherford reversed course on Wednesday and said that health care provided for his brother was covered under Florida’s Medically Needy program, which is financed by Medicaid.”
Gov. Rick Scott told a similar story about his family struggling to find health care. But Scott came out of that story with a different conclusion. A former hospital executive who fought long and hard to stop the health care law from being implemented in Florida, Scott capitulated and has decided to support Medicaid expansion in Florida.
This move will be a big help to the hospitals Scott once ran, as well as people in the state who can’t obtain insurance on the private market.
Scott said in his State of the State on Tuesday:
Now, our options are either having Floridians pay to fund this program in other states while denying healthcare to our citizens – or – using federal funding to help some of the poorest in our state with the Medicaid program as we explore other healthcare improvements. As I wrestled with this decision, I thought about my Mom and her struggles to get my little brother the care he needed with very little money.
I concluded that for the three years the federal government is committed to paying 100 percent of the cost of new people in Medicaid, I cannot, in good conscience, deny the uninsured access to care.
The Florida Legislature will need to approve Medicaid expansion, which means the fate of that expansion is in the hands of elected officials such as Weatherford.