Lee Memorial Health System’s elected board of directors sent the attached letter to the Lee County Legislative Delegation today addressing support for upcoming legislation that would expand health insurance to 1 million of Florida’s low income workers. What is good for working, low-income Floridians turns out to be great for our economy, too. The Florida Hospital Association reports that the economic impact of this expansion will create 121,000 jobs, including more than 10,000 in our community. We have an unprecedented opportunity to provide coverage for these and many more uninsured people using the federal tax dollars that the people of Southwest Florida are already paying. Florida faces the loss of $51 billion in Federal dollars assigned to expand Medicaid over the next ten years. This is money that the taxpayers of Florida are already sending to Washington, and this money will go to other states if we do not find an alternate solution. We urge legislators to access those dollars for the short term, so we can expand insurance now and then take the next few years to work toward a better program. Passing along the unreimbursed costs of Medicaid, Medicare and charity care is a “hidden tax” on businesses that provide insurance and their employees who pay their share of coverage. This shell game may appear to “save” state and federal governments’ money directly, but it drives up the cost of business for everyone and makes all Florida business less attractive and competitive over the next decade.
Let’s remind our elected officials that the money for health coverage expansion is the people’s money, not the federal government’s money, and it needs to come back to the people of Florida. LMHS is asking the community to back this effort by contacting legislators in support of the expansion. The following web site provides additional information as well as a link to assist the public in sending a message to local legislators: http://www.leememorial.org/mainlanding/affordable-care-act.asp .
Read Letter Here