Local Advocates are increasing their campaign for the Legislature to increasing healthcare funding for the over 500,000 Floridians who fall in the “coverage gap” – those unable to receive coverage through Obamacare because of income imitations, and who do not qualify for Medicare because they earn too much.
The state bills 856 and 629 seeking to expand coverage to this group “look like they’ll not even make it to a committee hearing this year,” says Kyle Simon, External Affairs and Communications Director of Florida CHAIN, an advocacy group for health coverage for Floridians. “Florida lawmakers continue to ignore our state’s most pressing issue, improving access to health care for over 500,000 residents.”
In response, members of the consortium of Florida healthcare advocates, the Florida Health Alliance, held a press conference in Tallahassee on Tuesday to draw awareness to the issue.
Cristina Calvillo-Rivera, Campaign Outreach Manager for Young Invincibles, a national advocacy group, said “some 291,000 young Floridians fall through the cracks without access to affordable healthcare coverage alternatives.”
Several Caribbean Americans live in this “coverage gap, including Denice Robotham of Miami. As a sickle-cell patient and part-time library assistant, she does not qualify for Obamacare or Florida Medicaid due to her income. Although she has access to public health clinics, she often cannot afford the fees or purchase medication she needs.
“Often I resort to the emergency room at local hospital, but the ER isn’t free you know,” says Robotham. “I owe the hospitals thousands in medical bills which I can’t pay.”
Also drawing attention to the plight of the uninsured in Florida, are students from the Medical College of Florida State University (FSU) who have declared this week “Cover the Uninsured” Week (CTUW). The students have coordinated a series of events during the week, which, according to FSU med student Stephanie Tran, will “raise awareness of the burden and hardship millions of Americans face when it comes to attaining health care for themselves and their families.”
At an event called “Reading Into the Uninsured” at the FSU College of Medicine on Wednesday, the medical students, representatives of Young Invincibles, and the Florida Health Alliance discussed relevant journal articles, and a newly released report from Young Invincibles highlighting how the lack of healthcare coverage options are affecting millennials.
Simon and other representatives from Florida Chain also participated in Wednesday’s forum and aired a video of the plight of the uninsured in Central and South Florida.
