Do some good with gambling: Expand Medicaid | Editorial
The
So here’s a suggestion to senators and House members from
Don’t worry about whether you have enough votes to adopt that amendment. It’s time to put every lawmaker on record. Of the dozens of bills introduced to expand Medicaid during the regular session, none got out of committees or were even heard there except for a provision in the appropriations act to provide a year’s extended overage for women on Medicaid who give birth. That provision is commendable, but the failure to do more was cruel, spiteful and self-destructive.
The point that’s so sadly lost on Florida’s recent governors and legislators is that the money spent on health care for poor people doesn’t go to them. It goes to the benefit of doctors, hospitals and pharmacies.
Expanding Medicaid to everyone eligible under the 2010 law would extend health insurance to an estimated 800,000 Floridians or more, most of them working adults without children who are eligible neither for Obamacare insurance premium supplements or basic Medicaid.
Even then, the top income limit would be 138% of the federal poverty level, which is about
The fallback excuse of
Gov.
The moral imperative for earmarking the gambling revenue to a good purpose goes beyond simply the health needs of so many uninsured Floridians. Despite its popularity, gambling is widely and rightly viewed as a vice. It is addictive to many people, and when they suffer from unaffordable losses, so do their families and society as a whole.
The
Whether that aspect is even legal remains in question. What’s not in doubt is that the compact requires no more than
Speaking of “gaming,” the euphemism of choice throughout the legislation, the omission of the letters “b” and “l” don’t change a vice into a virtue. Wherever the word appears, it should be amended to “gambling.”
If it’s inevitable — and we believe both passage in the Legislature and lawsuits over voter approval certainly are — let the gambling money at least be committed to a wholesome purpose.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Deputy Editorial Page Editor
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