Failure to Expand Medicaid Costs Florida Millions
Posted June 10, 2016 07:05 am | Public News Service
TALLAHASSEE, FL – It's been two years since the onset of Medicaid expansion, and a new report says it's paying off for states that have helped close their "coverage gaps" with economic benefits for health-care systems and the people they serve. But Florida is missing out.
More than a half-million Floridians can't afford marketplace health insurance but don't qualify for Medicaid. The research pointed to a ripple effect on the stability of the state's health-care delivery system.
Florida House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, chief executive of Florida Community Health Action Information Network (CHAIN), blamed the Legislature's failure to act for Florida hospitals having to cut staff and reduce services.
"I'm talking about the providers dealing with people who
need health insurance, who are in poverty many times,
who are working full-time jobs," he said, "and so that
economic impact to those hospitals is really unjust."
According to the report from the Georgetown University
Center for Children and Families, hospitals and clinics
in Medicaid expansion states report opening new
facilities, buying new equipment and hiring staff. To
date, 31 states and the District of Columbia have chosen
to expand Medicaid. Report co-author Jack Hoadley, a
research professor at the Georgetown center, said states
that have expanded Medicaid have seen major reductions
in the amount of uncompensated care delivered by
safety-net institutions, signifcant drops in the number
of uninsured residents and budget savings for hospitals
and community health centers.
"This is the kind of ripple effect," Hoadley said. "It's
not just the patient now comes in and gets a service, or
now comes in and is able to pay for the service as
opposed to receiving charity care, but the dollars that
are saved -- or the dollars that are brought in to these
institutions -- really are used in ways that really
fundamentally change the way care is delivered."
Pafford said he finds it ironic that Gov. Rick Scott has
taken such a strong stand against Medicaid expansion but
is asking the federal government for more money to help
prevent and monitor the spread of the Zika virus in
Florida.
"So, at a time where the state's ability to respond
should be at its greatest," Pafford said, "he turned his
back on Medicaid expansion, which was the delivery of
those dollars to react to Zika."
Opponents of expanding Medicaid often claim it will
place a higher financial burden on state budgets, but
the report found fiscal benefits for many expansion
states -- from $25 million in savings in Kentucky to
$100 million in Washington state.
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