Both the Senate President and House Speaker oppose expanding Medicaid in Florida

Share
Medicaid expansion sign
Sign at a Medicaid expansion rally. By Janelle Irwin / WMNF News (Oct. 2013).

©2024 The News Service of Florida

House Speaker Paul Renner on Wednesday reiterated support for Senate President Kathleen Passidomo’s efforts to increase access to health care — and her opposition to expanding eligibility for the Medicaid program.

Renner, R-Palm Coast, said the “Live Healthy” plan, which is a top priority of Passidomo during this year’s legislative session, is “something better” than options that would expand government involvement in health care.

“I do believe, and I’m telling you bluntly, we will have in this country, in the near-term, single-payer health care, and we will have that if and only if we fail to offer something better,” Renner said during an appearance at the Florida Chamber of Commerce “Legislative Fly-in” at the Augustus B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center in Tallahassee.

“We want good for everybody,” Renner added. “And the way to do that is to continue to leave space for innovation. … And the only way you do that is through the private sector.”

The $900 million Live Healthy proposal includes two bills (SB 7016 and SB 7018) sponsored by Sen. Colleen Burton, R-Lakeland, and Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, that are intended to increase the number of doctors, while encouraging technological innovation.

The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee is scheduled to take up the bills Thursday.

Among other things, the plan seeks to shift patients away from emergency rooms, expand medical residency programs and offset student-loan debts.

“We graduate a lot of students from medical schools but there’s not enough residency,” Passidomo said during the Florida Chamber event. “So, what do they do? They leave, and when they leave, they don’t come back.”

During remarks Tuesday to open the legislative session, Passidomo said Medicaid expansion — long sought by Democrats — is “not going to happen.”

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

Window home repair
Tampa is giving up to $100K for home repairs to eligible residents

Healthy Homes Program is offering homeowners $100,000 in free critical...

Homeowner's insurance property insurance
The cost of reinsurance in Florida declines

Florida property insurers found better prices and more availability when...

social media
Supreme Court sents Florida’s social media law back to appeals court

The U.S. Supreme Court vacated conflicting rulings in challenges to...

abortion rights rally
Florida abortion rights constitutional amendment campaign raises $212,000 in one week

A political committee leading efforts to pass a proposed Florida...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

The Morning Show Friday
Player position: