State health officials are providing little assistance to Floridians with less than two months until enrollment opens under the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, say liberal advocacy groups in the state.
On a conference call Wednesday, Laura Goodhue, director of Florida CHAIN, an alliance of health advocacy groups, discussed a coordinated campaign to help consumers enroll in insurance plans by next year, when it becomes a requirement under Obamacare, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced its “Navigators” program, intended to assist consumers who want to learn about and apply for health care coverage in the new marketplace. And although Florida would get $7.8 million for Navigators, Gov. Rick Scott has slammed the program saying it lacks privacy protections.
Scott, long an opponent of the Affordable Care Act, and no doubt with his re-election in mind, changed course last spring, lending support for some $50 billion in federal monies which would have gone toward expansion of the Medicaid program and covered over one million uninsured low-income Floridians. After the GOP-led Legislature adjourned in May without passing legislation to expand health care coverage, Scott reverted to opposing Obamacare.
Democrats’ calls for a special session of the Legislature to approve a bipartisan health coverage expansion compromise that utilizes available federal funds have gone unheeded, to date.
Along with Florida CHAIN, Planned Parenthood, KidsWell Florida, PICO, the Florida Association of Community Health Centers and Service Employees International Union said, a variety of methods will be utilized to educate those unfamiliar with the new health care law and assist them with enrollment, the paper also reported.
