Congressman Maxwell Frost and Florida Legislators Sound Alarm on Harmful Medicaid Cuts
Watch the Press Conference Here
TALLAHASSEE, FL— Today, Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost (FL-10) joined Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell and Representative Dotie Joseph, at a press conference on the uncertain state of Medicaid and what potential cuts enacted by House Republicans to the program would mean for Florida families.
Florida is just one of ten states in the country that has not expanded Medicaid to draw down federal money to pay for low-income Floridians to afford health care. In Florida, nearly 4 million individuals count on Medicaid to receive healthcare.
The latest spending bill that passed the Senate this past Friday, calls for $2 trillion in spending cuts, specifically the bill instructs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut at least $880 billion in costs through 2034. Considering that when you don’t include Medicare, which Republicans have vowed not to touch, Medicaid accounts for 93% of the funding that the committee controls. It’s just not possible to cut $880 billion without cutting deep into Medicaid.
“The question I’m here to ask is ?if you support cuts to Medicaid, do you not realize that you're supporting cuts to the Florida budget? That's how this works. We give federal dollars to the state of Florida so they can give healthcare to people that need it— children, pregnant people, and seniors. So if you're cheering on cutting Medicaid, you're cheering on losing money to help Floridians. In the wealthiest country on this Earth, everyone deserves access to quality healthcare,” said Congressman Frost.
“Right now in the state of Florida, the total uninsured population is over 2.4 million, if we were to expand medicaid, 1.5 million Floridians would have coverage. It’s a no-brainer. Why should we do it? It saves money and saves lives.This is a simple policy decision that would bring tremendous financial relief for everyday people,” said Representative Dotie Joseph, who has introduced legislation to expand Medicaid.
“Medicaid is a program we’ve all paid into. It’s intended to be a safety net to provide for those who don’t make enough to afford basic, important life-saving services on their own. It’s the contract we all agreed to as Americans. This nation of amazing success and prosperity will offer a safety net to make certain that our sick, disabled, and elderly aren’t dying on our streets,” said Leader Fentrice Driskell. “We’re doing what we can to try and protect the millions of Floridians who need us to ensure that this program goes on.”
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