FlaglerLive | May 13, 2013
Even though Florida officials tried to block the implementation of the Affordable Care Act at every turn over the past three years, the state will gain millions in grants and hundreds of new jobs this year from its implementation.
FlaglerLive | April 28, 2013
Florida’s rejection of federal aid for the expansion of Medicaid leaves the state with a bare-bones alternative to provide health care for the poor and uninsured while setting a defining marker against Obamacare and the federal vision of health care reform.
FlaglerLive | March 29, 2013
The premium assistance, which begins Jan. 1, will come in the form of tax credits for low- and middle-income workers and their families. The money will flow directly to the patients’ health plans, which simplifies matters and means patients don’t have to come up with cash and wait for reimbursement.
FlaglerLive | March 16, 2013
As more small employers avoid the health act’s requirements through self-coverage, small-business marketplaces intended to cover millions of Americans could break down and become unaffordable.
FlaglerLive | March 15, 2013
Although Florida lawmakers have made it known they have no intention of going along with an expansion of Medicaid under the federal health care law, legislative leaders say they’re open to crafting an alternative that would find some way to expand health care coverage to many more uninsured as the law envisions.
FlaglerLive | March 12, 2013
Florida lawmakers say they want to pursue an alternative plan, possibly expanding Healthy Kids, that would use federal money to help uninsured low-income people get coverage through private insurers. Democrats are not entirely opposed.
FlaglerLive | March 11, 2013
The state’s share would only be a fraction of the $55 billion overall expansion cost, with the federal government paying the rest. Under the law better known as Obamacare, Washington would pay 100 percent of the expansion costs during the first three years and gradually reduce that share to 90 percent in 2020.
FlaglerLive | February 19, 2013
Even when deductibles are included, 36 percent of policies offered to individuals on the private market exceed the new health law’s allowable limit. Once the cap is enforced, consumers may see higher premiums instead.
FlaglerLive | January 14, 2013
Florida’s costs could be as low as $3 billion over 10 years — a huge drop from the nearly $26 billion figure that AHCA produced in a report last month. Even with the changes, it appears that the Scott administration believes that the state’s final tab over 10 years would be higher.
FlaglerLive | January 12, 2013
The state’s chief economist has warned the staff of Gov. Rick Scott that his Medicaid cost estimates are wrong, but Scott keeps using them anyway, skewing Florida’s costs under the Affordable Health Act.
FlaglerLive | December 11, 2012
Under Obamacare the federal government would pay 100 percent of the cost of the expanded eligibility from 2014 through 2016. Florida and other states questioned whether the federal government also would cover the full costs for a partial Medicaid expansion. The Obama administration said no.
FlaglerLive | November 19, 2012
Scott sent a conciliatory letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, but while seeking a meeting, Scott also expressed doubts about whether a key part of the Affordable Care Act would lower health costs.
FlaglerLive | November 16, 2012
After more than two years of fighting the federal health overhaul, Florida Republican leaders say they need to prepare to carry out the law, while Gov. Rick Scott, in a sharp turnaround, said he wants to negotiate with federal authorities.
FlaglerLive | November 13, 2012
The gamble of lower health premiums in exchange for higher deductibles is appealing, but people are losing the gamble and getting stuck with insurmountable expenses even as high-deductible plans are becoming more frequent by default.
FlaglerLive | October 14, 2012
Lawmakers have proposed a constitutional amendment that, if passed, would say Floridians can’t be forced to buy health coverage. At least in the short term, the measure would appear to have little effect, but House sponsor Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, pointed to what he sees as a “basic right” that Floridians should not be “fined, taxed or penalized for our health care choices.”
FlaglerLive | September 16, 2012
From feeling like a human easel to a convicted felon, Matanzas teacher Jo Ann Nahirny takes us step by step through the anguish of preparing for cancer treatment and its implications–physical, financial, emotional and spiritual.
FlaglerLive | August 31, 2012
GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan said the nation must rethink Medicare as he and Mitt Romney propose changing the health-insurance program for 65-and-over Americans to a “fixed-amount” voucher that would essentially privatize the benefit.
FlaglerLive | August 30, 2012
Obama’s health care reform would almost eliminate the proportion of uninsured, but Gov. Rick Scott’s refusal to join reform’s expanded Medicaid eligibility means that many of Flagler’s 16,774 eligible residents will be shut out of the benefit.
FlaglerLive | August 7, 2012
Only 59 percent of doctors in Florida accept accept new Medicaid patients, well below a national average 69 percent. Better reimbursements would improve both rates, but that’s not about to happen in Florida, which is rejecting increased federal aid.
FlaglerLive | July 10, 2012
An April report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted a surge in cases of the highly contagious disease that appeared to be clustered in a homeless shelter, a jail and an outpatient mental health clinic in downtown Jacksonville.
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