The leaders of of both houses of the Florida State Legislature joined with leading medical and insurance providers to discuss health policy at Jacksonville University’s 2013 Healthcare Policy Conference.Among the speakers Wednesday was State Senate President Don Gaetz who reiterated his opposition to the Affordable Care Act and the push to expand Medicaid.
One major bone of contention is what Gaetz describes as the federal government’s unwillingness to accept Florida’s health coverage proposals.
“Unfortunately, we were unable to convince the Secretary of HHS in Washington to adopt a Florida plan. So until the federal government backs away from its all or nothing, my way or the highway attitude, I’m afraid people in Florida will be disadvantaged,” he said.
Also in attendance at the conference was State Representative Mia Jones, who said Floridians will continue to have a disadvantage as long as state lawmakers refuse to budge on healthcare issues.
“Even with Florida Blue saying that a workable solution exists, that the House and the Senate still were not willing to go at it a different way. Their position is, let them tell us they’ll make these concessions and then we’ll come to the table," she said.
The Healthcare Policy Conference was sponsored by Jacksonville University’s Public Policy Institute.
You can follow Cyd Hoskinson on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.
