Crocodile tears in Florida- the fight for Medicaid expansion.
Frank Cerabino wrote a column on two Republican politicians in the Sunshine State who are fumbling to relate their personal experiences to their opposite stands on Medicaid expansion. The mostly federally financed expansion of Medicaid would expand coverage to 1 million currently uninsured Floridians. Article: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local/cerabino-state-lawmakers-should-leave-the-sad-fami/nWkZh/
Will Weatherford is the Speaker of the Florida House and has come out against the expansion of Medicaid. Weatherford relates the story from his childhood of losing a brother to cancer. The family did not have health insurance and used up all their savings. Florida's Medically Needy program, a part of Medicaid, paid for additional care that the family could not afford. Mr. Weatherford draws the not-so-obvious moral of his own family's story:
That sounds like a preamble for supporting the Medicaid expansion, which would be a safety net for the state’s poorest citizens — individuals who make less than about $15,000 a year and families of four that make less than about $31,000 a year.
But somehow Weatherford used the safety net story of his family to pivot into why he’s against Medicaid expansion.
“But members, I also firmly believe that a government that grows too big, becomes too intrusive, and fosters too much dependency will threaten our liberty, our freedom and prosperity,” he said. “Members, I am opposed to Medicaid expansion because I firmly believe it crosses the line of the proper role of government.”
Rather than expand Medicaid to help more people, the Republicans are trying to shrink existing programs like Medically Needy. Rough translation: we got ours, now screw you.
At the same time that Weatherford was using his family story to support the claim that the current "safety net" is adequate without expanding Medicaid, Governor Rick Scott was citing the personal story of his mother's hardships trying to get medical care for his younger brother as a reason for his flip-flop from opposition to support of Medicaid expansion.
It is remotely possible that Governor Scott had an epiphany and suddenly recovered the suppressed memory of his family's experience after years of steadfast opposition to Medicaid expansion. Cerabino, however, is skeptical of this explanation and thinks it's more likely due to intense lobbying for Medicaid expansion from Scott's alma mater, the hospital corporations. Florida's reptilian governor is ready to shed his Tea Party skin and return to his kleptocratic roots in the medical establishment.
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