Leaders pay little for insurance while thousands go without ; Issue of massive gap in health care funding still faces lawmakers next year
Federal money for the
"How they chose to respond to that I don't know," said
Without
Alker said there is both an economic and a moral argument for why
But the moral reason comes down to the affordable, quality health care coverage state lawmakers enjoy even as many of them vote against providing insurance to the poor.
While hundreds of thousands of Floridians go without insurance, the governor, Cabinet and legislators and their families enjoyed extremely cheap health care.
"To have your most vulnerable folks, your lowest-income Floridians fall in the coverage gap when those who have greater incomes have the path to coverage is fundamentally unfair," Alker said. "Why should the poorest people have no path to coverage when those with more income are all getting a tax subsidy one way or the other?"
Gov.
House members paid that same amount until two years ago, when they joined the
Members of
Their
The
Rep.
"I just think that's not only a complicated decision but one that's multi-faceted," Cummings said. "It's not just about coverage to people who haven't been as fortunate or as blessed as me, but there are other factors who have led me to not vote in support."
Cummings said he opposes
Unless the federal government is willing to allow
Two years ago, he sponsored a health care bill in the House that would have used state money to help some poor Floridians afford discounted health plans but stopped short of guaranteeing full coverage. The House did not resubmit the plan this year because state health care dollars were tied up in boosting hospital funding, Cummings said.
With LIP money an issue again next year, that will be the focus and could result in both more state funding for hospitals and possibly some cuts to offset the losses in federal funding.
Sen.
While the
More controversially, the House also wanted to eliminate the "certificate of need" process used to approve new hospitals and also tried to establish recovery care centers to allow patients to recuperate from surgeries away from hospitals.
Crisafulli told the Times-Union in a statement that he hadn't heard anything more from
"The
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