Healthcare reform advocates are asking U.S. senators to pass the Build Back Better Act, saying it would provide a federal fix for the more than 400,000 uninsured Floridians in the Medicaid coverage gap.
Build Back Better would expand the tax credits lower-income people use to pay for insurance plans bought on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Florida‘s Republican leaders have continuously blocked Medicaid expansion in the state, so Alison Yager – executive director of the Florida Health Justice Project – said the fix is crucial to getting coverage to those without equal access to health care.
“And it would ensure that low-income families who live in Florida and can’t afford private health insurance will have the access to comprehensive healthcare,” said Yager. “So, a lot of those people are working parents. It will finally enable them to take care of themselves and their families.”
Florida Republican leaders have been adamant about rejecting the federal funding to expand Medicaid as a government-run health program, warning the state could be forced to shoulder much of the cost if Congress was to one day reconsider its commitment to cover 90% of the bill.
Joan Alker is the executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, which tracks and analyzes children’s health coverage. She said Build Back Better is designed to claw back gains the country had been making in getting kids covered during the Obama administration.
“After we saw this troubling reverse in the progress we’d made as a country in reducing the number of uninsured kids, which came to a halt in 2017 and started going in the wrong direction,” said Alker, “the Build Back Better bill would really turn that around and start moving the country back in the right direction.”
While the bill faces an uphill battle in the U.S. Senate, Alker notes it would also permanently reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program or CHIP, known here as Florida Kidcare, so Congress won’t have to debate how to fund it every few years.
Build Back Better also would provide 12 months of continuous coverage for kids enrolled in CHIP or Medicaid.
Defensores de la reforma del sistema de salud estan pidiendo a los senadores de los Estados Unidos que aprueben la Ley Build Back Better. Loa mismos alegan que proporcionara una solucion federal para los mas de 400,000 floridanos sin seguro o cobertura de Medicaid. Build Back Better ampliaria los creditos fiscales que las personas de bajos ingresos utilizan para pagar los planes de salud comprados en el mercado del Affordable Care Act o Ley de Asistencia Asequible. Los lideres republicanos de Florida han bloqueado continuamente la expansion de Medicaid en el estado, por lo que Alison Yager, del Florida Health Justice Project, dice que la solucion es crucial para brindar cobertura a quienes no tienen el mismo acceso a la atencion medica.
Segun Yager esto garantizaria que las familias de bajos ingresos que viven en Florida y no pueden pagar un seguro medico privado, tengan acceso a una atencion medica integral. Entonces, muchas de esas personas son padres que trabajan y finalmente les permitira cuidar de si mismos y de sus familias.
Los lideres republicanos de Florida se mantienen reacios a aceptar los fondos federales para expandir Medicaid como un programa de salud administrado por el gobierno. Ellos alegan que el estado podria verse obligado a asumir gran parte del costo si el Congreso algun dia reconsiderara su compromiso de cubrir el 90% de la factura.
Joan Alker dirige el Centro para Ninos y Familias de la Universidad de Georgetown, que rastrea y analiza la cobertura de salud para los ninos. Ella dice que Build Back Better esta disenado para recuperar las metas que el pais habia estado logrando en cubrir a los ninos, durante la administracion Obama.
“Despues de que vimos este reves preocupante en el progreso que habiamos logrado como pais en la reduccion del numero de ninos sin seguro, que se detuvo en 2017 y comenzo a ir en la direccion equivocada; el proyecto de ley Build Back Better realmente revertiria eso y comenzaria a mover el pais en la direccion correcta”, agrego tambien Alker.
Si bien el proyecto de ley enfrenta una batalla cuesta arriba en el Senado de los EE. UU., Alker senala que tambien reautorizaria permanentemente el Programa de Seguro Medico para Ninos o CHIP, conocido aqui como Florida Kidcare. Esto ayudaria a que el Congreso no tenga que debatir como financiarlo cada pocos anos. Build Back Better tambien proporcionaria 12 meses de cobertura continua para los ninos inscritos en CHIP o Medicaid.
