While congressional Republicans in the U.S. House have already scheduled a bill to repeal federal health-care laws that passed last year, Florida Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is firing back -- arguing that repealing the laws would hurt more senior citizens on Medicaid.
“I believe that no matter where people stand on certain specifics of this complex law, most of us can agree the current system can be unfair and too costly," said Nelson. "The system needs to be fixed. I don't think the health-care law is perfect, but it certainly helps a lot of people -- especially senior citizens."
Nelson's office estimated 260,000 senior citizens in Florida would be impacted by the change.
While Nelson dismissed the chances that the U.S. Senate will repeal the laws, the issue will pop up in 2012 as most of the Republicans who are thinking of running against Nelson that year are calling for the repeal. It looks like health care will be on center stage when Nelson starts fighting for a third term.