The Florida House of Representatives rejected an expansion of the state’s current Medicaid system that leaves hundreds of thousands of people caught in the state’s coverage gap. This gap applies to people living in the state who make too much money to apply for coverage but too little to cover the costs of their medical care. It has the possibility of having a serious effect on elderly people who live down in Florida full-time or have made it their primary residence for Medicaid eligibility purposes.
Florida Medicaid Program
Florida currently has 1.3 million people enrolled in the federal exchange for healthcare insurance, more than any other state in the country. Most of these people qualify for subsidies, but if these subsidies were invalidated then they would lose their access to coverage. This is of particular concern now as the U.S. Supreme Court is currently ruling on the case of King v. Burwell, which will determine whether federal tax subsidies that allow for low and middle income people to purchase insurance through the marketplace will be unconstitutional.