Editorial: For Florida consumers, tough talk on health care isn't enough

But transparency about high prices won't help people who can't pay those costs. Insulin prices, for example, have been skyrocketing -- with the average annual cost rising from $2,864 in 2012 to more than $5,000 today, as the Tampa Bay Times reported.

In some cases this has led to life-threatening consequences. A 24-year-old Virginia woman died in June after skipping insulin doses to pay her rent, while a 21-year-old man in Minnesota died the next month as a result of rationing his insulin.

Lawmakers in Colorado and Illinois have passed laws limiting out-of-pocket insulin costs to $100 for a 30-day supply. But a bill creating a similar cap in Florida has little chance of passing in the current legislative session.

CS/SB 116, filed by Tampa Democrat Janet Cruz, passed its first committee stop Jan. 15. But a companion bill in the House, HB 109, is being denied a hearing -- with Oliva telling reporters that the state should not "be in the business of capping costs."

That is in line with Oliva and other House leaders' focus on reducing regulations in health care in favor of a more free-market system.

Oliva last year pushed through legislation that eliminated the state's "certificate of need" (CON) regulatory program for new hospitals and tertiary health care services, such as organ transplants.

The CON process was designed, at least in part, to avoid a duplication of services that proponents of the regulations contend drives up costs. But Oliva argued that the regulations were "monopolistic."

But Oliva and his allies appeared to ditch that mantra recently when they tucked into a budget bill mandates that would increase the role of government in Medicaid contracts negotiated between managed-care plans and providers.

House budget writers included in a budget "conforming" bill (HB 5201) a requirement that "essential" providers contract with all Medicaid managed-care plans in their regions or lose access to hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid supplemental payments.

The mandate would affect some of the largest so-called "safety net" hospitals in the state.

Americans with health insurance at least benefit from drug prices negotiated by their insurers, but the uninsured face even higher prices. About 2.8 million Floridians are uninsured, or 14% of the state's population, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Thirty-six other states have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which requires the federal government to pay 90% of the costs. Researchers have found that expanded access to Medicaid led to increases in timely and more effective treatment of diabetes, among other health benefits.

But House Republicans have blocked Medicaid expansion in the Florida Legislature, while a voter initiative to expand Medicaid has been pushed back to 2022. On the federal level, President Donald Trump has declared that he wants the GOP to be the "party of health care" but is working to dismantle the ACA and its protections for people with preexisting conditions.

If Republicans want to be taken seriously on health care, just talking a big game won't cut it -- especially if they are at the same time working against expanding access to care and lowering costs.

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