"At a time when Florida residents will soon be able to access affordable health insurance on their own terms, the decision by Florida to return the money that will help the state implement health insurance reform is just flat wrong.
“The decision by the Governor and the Insurance Commissioner to stop implementing the reforms squarely puts the state on the side of the insurance industry over Florida taxpayers. By denying Floridians the important health reforms enacted in the Affordable Care Act, the state's residents and small businesses would be denied critical new benefits of the law, like protections against insurance industry abuses and new coverage options.
“Without the Affordable Care Act, nearly 3.2 million seniors in Florida who have Medicare coverage would be forced to pay a co-pay to receive important preventive services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, and more than 182,000 individuals on Medicare would see significantly higher prescription drug costs.”
“In Florida, 182,672 Medicare beneficiaries received a one-time, tax-free two-hundred-fifty dollar rebate to help pay for prescription drugs in the `donut hole’ coverage gap in 2010. Medicare beneficiaries who fall into the “donut hole” in 2011 will be eligible for 50-percent discounts on covered brand name prescription drugs.
“Without the law, the burden of high prescription drug costs would hurt millions of Medicare beneficiaries across the country.”
Rep. Mark Pafford, Democratic ranking member of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee
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