Rick Scott under fire for back-pedaling on Florida Medicaid expansion. (Photo courtesy of Mr. X via Wiki Commons.
By Francisco Alvarado
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Over the weekend, major newspapers across the state banded together to speak up for hundreds of thousands of poor Floridians who won’t be getting Medicaid thanks to an obstinate Gov. Rick Scott and Republican majority legislature.
In an April 16 email to several dozen counterparts in newsrooms from Miami to Tallahassee, Cindy McCurry-Ross, executive editor of The News Press, Fort Myers, sounded a battle call for editorial boards to express opinions on the state house’s refusal to approve a budget that expands Medicaid to 800,000 state residents who have jobs but cannot afford health coverage. Scott also announced he would sue the Obama administration for using “coercion tactics” to force the state into adopting the Medicaid expansion.
McCurry-Ross noted The News Press along with all other Gannett newspapers in Florida were running editorials to coincide with commentary by Tribune Co.’s The Sun Sentinel and Morris Communications-owned The Florida Times Union.
“I’d like to invite all the other outlets in the state to speak up about this issue this weekend,” McCurry-Ross wrote. “Regardless of your stance, our collective voices will educate a wide audience across the state and could spark a change in a standoff that’s developed.”
The issue galvanized editorial boards under the unanimous consensus that Florida’s state executive and legislative branches are acting irresponsibly by refusing to expand Medicaid to state residents who don’t qualify for tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.
Brevard County’s major daily Florida Today warned readers they would end up paying double the cost of medical care for the state’s uninsured:
“By rejecting an expansion of Medicaid, the House of Representatives is standing guard over a broken system that forces you to pay twice to care for the working poor: We urge House leaders including Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, and Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, to stop the gouging. With time running out in the Legislative session, they should at least open negotiations to accept Medicaid dollars and enroll the poor in privatized managed-care plans.” – Florida Today
The Bradenton Herald, which covers Manatee County, explained the state government’s refusal to expand Medicaid would have a devastating impact on hospitals that treat indigent and low income patients:
“After handing Florida a one-year extension on Low Income Pool (LIP), the federal government set a June 30 expiration date on the state’s participation in the program. Should the state lose $1.3 billion in annual federal LIP money and the Legislature fail to replace that funding, safety-net hospitals across the state will face massive financial losses.
In Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature, the Senate voted unanimously on its budget proposal.
The House voted mostly along party lines, with a handful of Democrats in support. The chamber’s ill will toward Obamacare continues to block a sensible solution to health care. Floridians will pay the price one way or another for obstinate politics.”
Broward County’s largest newspaper, The Sun Sentinel, blamed Florida’s Republican state leaders for fixating on their hatred of the Affordable Care Act:
“The partisan gridlock in Washington has nothing on the partisan gridlock in Tallahassee, except for one key difference: The Republican Party of Florida controls everything in the state capital and this year, its leaders are waging the ugliest intramural battle we’ve seen in decades.
With just two weeks to go in the 60-day Legislative session, the Florida House and Senate stand $4 billion apart on next year’s proposed state budget. Four billion dollars apart.
And rather than work overtime this weekend, their members are back home, taking time off, barely able to talk to one another. There’s no budget discussions going on, no negotiations, nothing.
It’s surprising that the standoff has gotten this far because as a rule, state Republicans are generally more diciplined in standing together and keeping their differences private. But give the Florida House’s relentless efforts to reject President Obama’s signature health care law – no matter the cost- that ship has sailed.”
The Florida Times Union, Jacksonville’s newspaper, noted Scott, who touts job creation as a cornerstone of his administration, was killing tens of thousands of potential new jobs by rejecting Medicaid expansion:
“Florida’s leaders are playing politics with health care. Hospitals are paying millions in charity care. Employees are paying hidden taxes on their premiums of about $1,500 a year to provide that charity care.
But Gov. Rick Scott — aka “Mr. Jobs” — is willing to turn down 71,000 jobs in the first three years following Medicaid expansion. He’s playing politics with the state’s economy. Scott — aka “Mr. Business” — is turning down the proposed Medicaid expansion plans supported by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Industries of Florida. In the first three years of Medicaid expansion, Florida could realize an $8.8 billion increase in economic activity.
Why would he turn down business expansion? Politics.”
The Miami Herald accused the governor of political showmanship:
“Don’t be fooled by Gov. Rick Scott’s phony lawsuit against the federal government over Medicaid expansion. It’s a politically inspired grandstand play that utterly fails to protect the interests of the people of Florida.
Ostensibly, the lawsuit is about the end of a federal program called LIP (Low Income Pool) that partially reimburses hospitals that care for indigent and low-income uninsured patients. In effect, it has been superseded by Obamacare, which offers the states federal funding to expand Medicaid.
The problem is that the state’s Republican leaders want the $2.2 billion that LIP provides, but they reject Medicaid expansion — for purely political reasons. Hence Mr.s Scott’s lawsuit, which defies logic: It demands that the federal government offer Florida one pot of money even while the state rejects another.”