The leadership team taking the reins in the Florida Legislature after the November elections both characterized the U.S. Supreme Court's Obamacare decision Thursday as mostly "disappointing."
Incoming Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, praised the Court decision on the Medicaid provision, saying it gives the states more flexibility in handling it.
I appreciate the Courts ruling on the Medicaid expansion mandate, Weatherford said. States will now be able to choose whether to expand their Medicaid programs. A state which cannot afford or chooses not to expand it will not risk losing its entire, existing program.
Weatherford said he had less use for other parts of the Courts decision.
The decision that the other provisions of the law are constitutional is disappointing, Weatherford said. While I respect the decision of this co-equal branch of government, I believe the act fundamentally and improperly changes the relationship between the federal government and the people.
This act was intended to increase access to care and drive down costs, but will likely do neither. It burdens Floridas businesses which are struggling to grow, Weatherford said. Individuals and families are deprived of both their money and their liberty because the law forces them to use their hard-earned dollars to purchase an insurance policy chosen by the federal government.
Weatherford said that he is ready to work to implement changes mandated by the federal health-care law but added that he hopes it would be repealed.
We in the House will work with the Senate and the governor to make the many difficult decisions necessitated by this legislation, Weatherford said. It is my hope that Congress revisits the law, and repeals or amends it to truly achieve better health care access and reduced costs for all Americans.
Incoming Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, also called the decision disappointing and said he remains convinced the 2010 law is detrimental to our common goal of affordable quality health-care.
Gaetz insisted that the new ruling would need to be studied to see how it would impact the Sunshine State.
The court's 110-page opinion is in some ways as complicated as the law itself," Gaetz said. Like others we will be tweezering through the ruling to fully understand all of the implications for Florida taxpayers, patients, providers and businesses. While this law remains on the books, states will confront many difficult decisions and in an effort to fully understand all of the implications and costly burdens.
Agreeing with Weatherford that the decision allowed more flexibility for the states when dealing with Medicaid, Gaetz said how Florida tackled the problem would lead to difficult decisions as the law required a mammoth Medicaid expansion."
We have reason to be concerned about the impact of this expansion, Gaetz said. Medicaid enrollment will double in the next few years; the states discretion in program design will be further curtailed; and even with a temporary enhancement of federal funds, the states financial burden for Medicaid will increase significantly.
Like the incoming speaker, Gaetz pledged to work to implement the changes needed by the law but added that he hopes Congress will repeal it.
I will be working with the governor, Speaker-Designate Will Weatherford and my colleagues in the Legislature to grapple with these problems even as we support those in Congress who are working to repeal and replace the complicated and costly provisions of this law, Gaetz said.
With Republicans in Tallahassee scrambling after the decision, Democrats in the Florida Legislature pushed the GOP leadership to accept the results of the case.
House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders, D-Key West, who is in a tough primary contest for a state Senate seat in South Florida, said that Gov. Rick Scott should quickly respond to the decision.
Governor Scotts administration has refused to accept millions of federal dollars that would have been available to help Floridians get the health care they need, Saunders said on Thursday. In light of today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, it is now vitally important that Governor Scott fully and expeditiously implement what has now been upheld as the law of the land.
Calling the health-care law the greatest single step in generations toward ensuring access to affordable, quality health care for every American," Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, joined Saunders in saying the state government needs to respond to the decision upholding it and he offered harsh words for the Republican leadership.
Outright defiance of federal law by Florida Governor Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi have resulted in the abandonment of millions of federal dollars that would have been available to help Floridians get the health care they need, Pafford concluded. Now, Floridas government must rush to begin planning the exchange and to address the issue of expanding the state Medicaid program to include more of the insured. They should be embarrassed by their conduct in denying Floridas most vulnerable and taxpaying residents the right to health care. Shame on them.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859
