Florida is Leaving 764,000 Uncovered and Giving Up $7 Million Per Day

Editor’s Note:  To listen to the webinar hosted by the Florida Philanthropic Network on this topic, visit this site.  

I just returned from a briefing in Tallahassee sponsored by the Florida Philanthropic Network on Medicaid where I released a new factsheet.  I presented some key findings – noted below – and a terrific panel responded — including the Florida Hospital Association, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and the Florida League of Women Voters.

Among the key points:

·      Florida is giving up $7 million a day by not accepting federal funds. Since New Year’s Day this has already added up to $350 million left on the table.

·      The structure of Florida’s economy means that many low-wage workers are left uninsured – approximately 532,000 under 138% of the federal poverty line who would be eligible for Medicaid coverage. See the chart below for the industries with the most uninsured workers SLIDE

·      Florida has an extremely high rate of uninsured adults so if the state does not accept the Medicaid dollars, the ability of the ACA to reduce the uninsured rate is severely blunted – 764,000 remain in a coverage gap today (Rudowitz, Kaiser Commission).

Its hard to think about hundreds of thousands of people remaining uninsured, seeing their health worsen and their economic security undermined, while a certain faction of legislators refuse to accept federal funding already set aside for Florida. And its fiscally irresponsible — Florida could be saving money by accepting the federal Medicaid funds as the Governor himself has noted.

I believe in time, the legislature will come around, but in the meantime, Florida will continue to lose $7 million a day,  and more importantly, hundreds of thousands of Floridians will live without the health coverage they so desperately need.Slide3

Joan Alker is the Executive Director of the Center for Children and Families and a Research Professor at the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy.

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