Tallahassee Democrat: 50,000 (Florida) workers qualify for Medicaid

[ryban]

More than 50,000 private- and public-sector employers in Florida have workers who qualify for Medicaid for themselves or their dependents because they are not paid enough or lack private health-insurance coverage.

"That is unbelievable. I would have thought it would be much less," said state Sen. Durrell Peaden Jr., R-Crestview, chair of the Senate Health Care Committee, when told about the number of employers who have Medicaid-qualified employees.

The state Medicaid program covers children in very low-income families, the disabled, pregnant women and those over 65. Children in foster care and some adopted children also may be eligible. The income limit for the program generally is 150 percent of the federal poverty level, or $18,850 annually for a family of four.

Medicaid, which is partially funded by the federal government, is the largest single expenditure in the state budget, growing from just less than $6 billion in the 1995-96 fiscal year to more than $14 billion today.

Employers with workers receiving Medicaid benefits include Wal-Mart, Publix, McDonald's, state agencies, universities, cities, counties - even hospitals and doctor's offices.

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http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/10450924.htm

[ooglymoogly]

1. and yet i bet their votes miraculously turned up for shrub. eom