Florida Bans Obamacare Navigators From Helping Uninsured At County Health Departments
Florida Bans Obamacare Navigators From Helping Uninsured At County Health Departments
Posted: 09/12/2013 11:05 am EDT | Updated: 09/12/2013 8:17 pm EDT
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"This is another blatant and shameful attempt to intimidate groups who will be working to inform Americans about their new health insurance options and help them enroll in coverage, just like Medicare counselors have been doing for years," said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Fabien Levy.
Reports the Times/Herald Bureau:
Grigg declined to comment on the directive. But health department spokeswoman Ashley Carr said there was a need for "clarity" and "a consistent message" across the agency.
"Navigators are not acting on behalf of the {Florida} Department of Health and this program has raised privacy concerns due to the consumer information that will be gathered for use in a federal database," Carr wrote in a statement.
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The "cruel and irresponsible" order will “significantly compromise a multitude of needy Floridians from getting critical health care," retired Pasco County Health Director Marc Yacht told the Times/Herald.
Florida's resistance to the Affordable Care Act is steadfast: It acted as lead plaintiff in an unsuccessful suit to stop the law, and in lieu of accepting an estimated $5 billion in federal grant money each year to expand Medicaid to more than a million Floridians, the state's conservative House instead insisted on using state funds to expand a private program to just 130,000 residents. Florida declined to set up its own state exchange for individuals and small businesses, and then relaxed Tallahassee's ability to regulate rates in the state -- an important consumer protection -- as it ceded control of its exchange to the federal government.
Florida has also refused to advertise the availability of the new program on October 1 even as it bars navigators from helping people sign up at county health centers.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/12/florida-bans-obamacare-navigators_n_3913979.html
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Much of Scott's $200 million fortune comes from health-care ventures. And before his bid for governor, Scott launched Conservatives for Patients' Rights with $5 million of his money. The organization ran blistering ad campaigns against President Obama's health-care plan.
"I don't think he cares about lowering people's health care costs," said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, a supporter and spokeswoman for the Democratic health-care policy. "I think he's interested in making sure that health-care corporations make as much money as they can."
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/dec/21/scotts-ties-health-care-industry-worry-backers-ove/
“Mitt Romney and Rick Scott. Connect the dots,” the narrator of the super-PAC’s ad says. “Scott ran a company that paid a record fine for committing Medicare fraud. Then, as governor, Scott cut millions from healthcare. Romney was director of a company that stole millions from Medicare. Now, Romney’s plan would end Medicare as we know it. We’ve seen this picture before. Just connect the dots.”
“If Romney wins,” the ad concludes, “the middle class loses.”
In his private equity career at Bain Capital, Romney served on the board of Damon Corp., which defrauded $25 million From Medicare for unnecessary blood tests. He made $473,000 when Corning Inc. purchased Damon in 1993, the Boston Globe has reported. Damon Corp. pleaded guilty in 1996 to a federal conspiracy charge of defrauding the government of $25 million between 1988 and 1993. It paid $119 million fine and penalty.
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2012-10-31/medicare-fraud-obama-backing-super-pac-ties-scott-romney/
