Legislation Will Cost Floridians Nearly $13 Billion In Additional Medicaid Expenses
Two years ago, after admitting to Floridians that ObamaCare would slash $500 billion from Medicare, liberal United States Senator Bill Nelson provided President Barack Obama with the 60th and final vote for his job-killing healthcare bill, which saddled the Sunshine State with nearly $13 billion in additional Medicaid expenses.
Faced with the possibility of insurers leaving the state, the Sunshine State applied for a waiver from fully implementing the ominous $2.5 trillion law. Unfortunately, the un-elected bureaucrats at Health and Human Services (HHS) rejected their request.
As The Hill reports:
“The Obama administration on Thursday rejected Florida’s request for a waiver from Democrats’ healthcare law. Florida is the fifth state whose insurers have been denied an exemption from the medical loss ratio provision that requires them to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care or give rebates to consumers. Florida had asked for an MLR adjustment allowing insurers to meet lower thresholds of 68 percent in 2011, 72 percent in 2012 and 76 percent in 2013.” (Julian Pecquet, Obama administration rejects Florida’s request for health law waiver, The Hill, 12/15/11)
“This waiver wouldn’t have even been necessary had Bill Nelson voted no on President Obama’s $2.5 trillion healthcare bill,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Jahan Wilcox. “Due to Nelson’s loyal allegiance to Barack Obama, taxpayers in Florida could now risk losing their insurance provider and the State continues to face the need to raise $13 billion in additional revenue to pay for this massive expansion of government-run healthcare.”
BACKGROUND …
OBAMACARE FORCED FLORIDA TO EXPAND MEDICAID WHICH WILL COST NEARLY $13 BILLON
A Joint Congressional Report Determined Medicaid Expansion In The Health Care Law Would Cost Florida $12.944 Billion Between 2013 And 2023. (“Medicaid Expansion In The New Health Law: Costs To The States,” Joint Congressional Report By Senate Finance Committee, House Energy & Commerce Committee, www.energycommerce.house.gov, Accessed 3/3/11)
OBAMACARE CUT $500 BILLION FROM MEDICARE
The Health Care Bill Cut Medicare By Roughly “$500 Billion Over The Next Decade.” “To cover the cost of those changes, the compromise would impose a 3.8 percent Medicare tax on investment income for wealthy taxpayers, a levy that would come in addition to a Senate-proposed increase in the regular payroll tax for those families. And it would slice an additional $60 billion from Medicare, with the privately run program known as Medicare Advantage targeted for particularly deep cuts, bringing the total reduction in projected spending on the program to more than $500 billion over the next decade.” (Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane, “House Leaders Announce $940 Billion Health-Care Compromise Bill,” The Washington Post, 3/19/10)
