Politics
Don Gaetz and Will Weatherford: Blame Obama for Obamacare Implementation Delay
Around the State
President Barack Obama
“We’ve had lots of dialogue with [the federal government], but they’ve given us a clear indication that it’s all-or-nothing with Medicaid expansion, and that’s unfortunate,” Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, told reporters at the Associated Press annual editors meeting, in response to a question from Sunshine State News.
“What if we had enough money to do some, but not all? What if we felt we could take a risk with some, but not [with] everybody? In every other kind of health benefit that we do, we draw distinctions as to who’s eligible and who’s not. Unfortunately, in [Obamacare] that distinction is not made in terms of the issue of expanding Medicaid.”
Gaetz was referring to the controversial 2010 health care law’s provisions allowing states to expand Medicaid coverage to all citizens with income below 138 percent of the poverty line. As of now, only certain classes of needy persons are covered by the program -- e.g., pregnant women, children, needy families, the blind, the elderly, and the disabled.
Gaetz joined House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, to announce their five-point “Work Plan Florida” to the assembled reporters and editors, but after their joint conference answered several questions about the state’s implementation, or lack thereof, of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).
“There were a lot of hopes that [the federal government] would allow us some flexibility, that we could expand in one area but not another, but they basically said you have to expand for all populations up to this level or you can’t do any of it,” Weatherford told the audience. “That’s put all legislators, all governors, and al state governments in a pretty tight box.”
Both Gaetz and Weatherford insisted they were in no rush to decide whether to expand Medicaid or to decide whether Florida will be operating its own health-insurance exchanges or leave them for the feds to run.
“We’re going to measure twice and cut once,” Gaetz said. “Sometimes it’s good to be the second one in the mine field. We think there’s a lot to learn from watching how other states proceed. There’s no reason that we have to make a decision before we have to make a decision.”
The federal government will be picking up the tab for running Florida’s health insurance exchanges, at least for the time being, since the state declined to meet a December 2012 deadline. Nothing precludes the state from eventually taking that over, should the Legislature approve it.
In addition to chiding the Obama administration for its inflexibility vis-a-vis Medicaid, Weatherford suggested that Washington’s fiscal irresponsibility and unpredictability is also to blame for Tallahassee’s reticence to move forward.
“If you were to talk about a federal government that had a balanced budget, a federal government that was not arguing over the debt ceiling every three to six months, if we had absolute certainty that they could fund this $60 billion operation just in Florida, not [to mention] the other states, I think there’d be a different conversation,” he told the audience. “If you allow for the Medicaid expansion and add [over] 1 million ... people onto the Medicaid rolls, and four or five years down the road the fed government says ‘Oops, we can’t afford to pay this anymore, it’s now your job,’ [where will we find] the $8-10 billion to fund it?”
Both legislators went to great lengths to emphasize their commitment to the maintenance of a welfare “safety net,” but Gaetz said Obamacare doesn’t permit them to distinguish, in the words of British Prime Minister David Cameron, between “those who choose to sit on the couch and those who can’t get off the couch” to go find a job.
“Since we have limited money, wouldn’t it be good to provide care and health first to those who need it the most, as opposed to those who arguably would need it less than others?” Gaetz asked.
Later at the meeting, House minority leader Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, blasted Republicans for what he called their “foot-dragging” on implementing the federal health care law
“We’re going to save lives. We’re not talking about turning down money for a rail system; we’re talking about saving lives,” Thurston told reporters. “Not to do this would be morally reprehensible.”
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews or at (954) 235-9116.
Comments (4)
I'm with Putnam Patriot - we shouldn't have to discuss this at all-the federal government is not responsible for state health care. Period. Can the government run the IRS, Postal system, military (selling arms to our enemies), Social Security (had it but lost it),Dept. of Education, EPA, Medicare or Medicade. I say fire the government. It is totally proud of it's inability to run anything, and arrogant in its many attempts.
Pathetic . . .
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