Florida Health Insurance for Most Needy Barely SalvagedApril 2008
It was a close call this week for Florida's most needy medical insurance patients. Bowing to state-wide pressures, House and Senate negotiators used $300 million from reserves to protect a
Florida health insurance plan that was serving 40,000 critically ill and elderly Floridians.
So the state's Medically Needy program and Medicaid Aged and Disabled coverage will continue to run for another year. These plans had originally been included in the $1 billion in proposed cuts to heath and human services programs that were supposed to help balance the loss of $3 billion in tax collections caused by the slumping economy.
Losing these programs would have left the very sickest and very poorest Floridians to suffer from injury and disease without any health care.
But will the $300 million be enough to protect those vulnerable populations who rely on Florida health insurance programs like these? State hospitals are facing between $148 million and $238 million in payment cuts, and even those with some form of medical insurance may soon find themselves among the 50 million Americans who are under-insured and not covered in the event of a major illness or accident.
Facts on:
FL Health Insurance
Did you know...
Florida hospitals are facing up to $238 million in health care cuts?
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And
medical insurance isn't the only thing suffering right now. State teachers have been protesting the $300 million in planned cuts to public school spending, following the $500 million that were already cut this year.
Times are definitely very tough in Florida right now. Those who don't have Florida health insurance will soon find it more and more difficult to get quality care when they need it, particularly if they find themselves under-insured when they need their health care the most.
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