While crowing about the gains realized in Washington, D.C., and in select state legislatures and capitals, Democrats and left-wing groups seem bothered that Florida bucked that trend by becoming decidedly redder after the midterm elections. This has not apparently quelled the lust for bigger government in the Sunshine State.
After dodging an economic bullet named Andrew Gillum (increased taxes on corporations, MW-15 wage mandates, and other regressive proposals), the state is now being targeted by health care activism. A consortium of groups -- uniformly leftist in nature -- is seeking to get Medicaid expansion as a ballot initiative for the 2020 election. This is a concerted effort to embed the sinking Obamacare policy into law.
That this is an effort with numerous barricades in not a deterrent. That this becomes an economic threat to the state is a real concern. Four states passed variations on this proposal in November, and now Florida becomes the new battleground. The effort will not be easy. Gov. Ron DeSantis backs the GOP legislature that has upheld Rick Scott’s prior reticence at this plan. While campaigning, the governor ran on a platform opposing Medicaid expansion.
Some of the groups behind this effort are left-of-center in their positioning, or even further out: unions (SEIU), Planned Parenthood, and the leftist agenda group Organize Florida. However, unlike those four states that passed their versions three months ago, Florida requires a 60 percent majority vote for passage. Of those four, only one -- Idaho -- received that sufficient level of backing by voters.
The danger in this new plan to offer coverage for the state’s citizens is, as always, how will we pay for the “free” healthcare? In Utah (another of those that passed expansion) legislators have already had to scale back the program. The reason: the cost projections have now already exceeded the revenue they will collect. And the unspoken trap in this proposal is, these groups pushing for the Medicaid plan for us have not indicated where the funding will come from.
Florida has long resisted a state income tax; it is one of the attractions we hold in luring businesses, retirees, and the wealthy from confiscatory states. The state lottery funds are already allocated. Sin taxes are a losing proposition, as raising the prices on items like cigarettes drives people away from those vices, and the tax revenues decrease accordingly. A bed tax, or similar offset collection on tourism can likewise have a diminishing effect.
For a cautionary tale on what high tax rates can deliver, we need only to look at New York. Last week Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced how his state was enduring a loss of tax revenue of more than $2 billion over the course of just the last two months. The loss of deductions permitted under the SALT aspect of the recent tax cuts resulted in residents leaving because of the burden wealthy residents felt.
This is always the risk incurred when these utopian policies are offered as solutions. The word “free” is tossed about -- well, freely. The dirty details in how these programs get funded is never addressed honestly. Obamacare was sold as a “free” solution for recipients, but look at the shockingly higher premiums it led to, to say nothing of how many state exchanges went bankrupt.
These are the real risks, and the fact they are barely talked about should be all the warning needed.
Brad Slager, a Fort Lauderdale freelance writer, wrote this story exclusively for Sunshine State News. He writes on politics and the entertainment industry and his stories appear in such publications as RedState and The Federalist.
