Healthcare Advocates Are Worried
President Trump and the Republicans’ Big UGLY Bill is now law, and massive cuts to healthcare resources are coming for all of us. On July 23, MidPoint hosted some healthcare advocates who are passionate about ensuring all Floridians have access to quality healthcare. Their jobs are now made more difficult by the cuts in the Big UGLY Bill. Scott Darius is the Executive Director of Florida Voices for Health, a non-profit that works to improve health care outcomes for all Floridians. He’s led efforts to expand and protect Medicaid, including working to bring the expansion of Medicaid to Florida through the citizen initiative process by putting it on the ballot for Florida voters. Katie Roders Turner is the Executive Director of the Family Healthcare Foundation, an organization focused on health equity and access to affordable healthcare across all of Tampa Bay. Her organization includes the healthcare navigators who work directly with consumers to help them find affordable health insurance coverage, including from the Obamacare Affordable Care Marketplace, Florida KidCare, the Hillsborough County Healthcare Plan, and elsewhere. Dr. Neil Manimala is a USF Medical School-trained physician and President-Elect of the Hillsborough County Medical Assn. He is also a candidate for election to the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, District 5, countywide.
Local Healthcare Resources Are Available, But….
The failure to expand Medicaid and the cuts to reimbursements and the subsidies on the Affordable Care Act marketplace policies in Florida will impact everyone because everyone gets sick, and if people don’t have preventive healthcare, or medical management of their chronic conditions, people will inevitably show up at an emergency room, increasing medical costs and crowding ER’s for everyone. With these recent cuts, that uninsured population will only increase. It is very unlikely given the current composition of the Republican-controlled Florida legislature that the State of Florida will pick up and increase Medicaid or other healthcare funding to supplement what is lost in Federal funding, as some other “Blue states” have done. Consequently, alternative healthcare programs will become even more important. Our guests pointed to the award-winning Hillsborough County Healthcare Plan as an example of the kind of program that is available locally to help fill in the gaps in coverage that will result from more people losing affordable health insurance coverage with the recent Federal changes. Fortunately, this program is funded by a special dedicated county tax, so it will not be directly endangered by the Federal law changes. However, as our guests emphasized, all healthcare services are endangered because the cutbacks in reimbursement funding for hospitals and healthcare providers will potentially cause the loss of health services as rural hospitals in particular may have to close specialty wings or close altogether, as existing programs are forced to trim benefits, and as more medical providers leave Florida.
The Federal Immigration Crackdown Is Only Making It Worse
The immigration crackdown by the Federal government will also have dangerous consequences for healthcare, especially for the elderly and disabled. Immigrants make up about 28% of the workforce providing long-term care according to an analysis of Census Bureau data from KFF, a health policy research group. Now, nursing homes and home care agencies have lost immigrant workers to deportation and fear. Staffing shortages can lead to lower quality of care if there are fewer workers engaged in providing services. The long-term care industry faces persistent challenges in recruiting workers generally. Providers may need to raise wages and benefits to recruit more workers, but now, with lower Medicaid reimbursement, many say they may not be able to afford to do so, or they will have to increase their rates beyond the ability of most families to pay. Likely, just like rural hospitals that largely depend on Medicaid reimbursement, some longterm care facilities will have to close.
To contact local healthcare navigators at the Family Healthcare Foundation, 813-995-7005 or go online to https://familyhealthcarefdn.org/. They will help you find healthcare coverage. To tell your healthcare story, go to Florida Voices for Health. To get involved in the Florida fight for Medicaid expansion, go to Florida Decides Healthcare.
You can listen to the entire show here, on the WMNF app, or as a WMNF MidPoint podcast on Spotify or Apple Music.
