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Dear Neighbor,
Recently, my office has received inquiries regarding the legislation passed by the House, specifically regarding changes to the Medicaid program. Given the misinformation circulating, I want to ensure you have accurate information about this legislation and how it may affect Floridians.
Below are some frequently asked questions:
QUESTION: Did Republicans cut $880 billion from Medicaid?
ANSWER: No. The $880 billion number comes from the entire House Energy & Commerce Committee’s instruction to find $880 billion in savings, including other policy areas like energy, environment, and telecommunications. This portion of the bill puts an end to waste, fraud, and abuse, so that the program can work for the Americans it was designed to serve.
QUESTION: Did the Reconciliation bill cut aid to mothers, children, seniors, and people with disabilities?
ANSWER: Absolutely not. This bill strengthens and secures Medicaid for those who need it most. There are no cuts to Medicaid for mothers, children, people with disabilities, or elderly Americans. Instead, it ensures illegal immigrants, able-bodied adults choosing not to work, and people who aren’t actually qualified for Medicaid aren’t draining the already-burdened system.
QUESTION: Will tens of millions of people lose Medicaid coverage?
ANSWER: No. Prior to the final bill, liberals asked the Congressional Budget Office to score a number of policies that were not included in the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s portion of the bill, completely misrepresenting the impact of the legislation. In reality, the only Medicaid enrollees losing coverage from this bill are illegal immigrants, people who are not actually eligible for Medicaid but receiving coverage anyway, or able-bodied adults choosing not to work. Furthermore, Florida is not an expansion state – meaning – the only groups that have ever been eligible to receive Medicaid are low income seniors, children, disabled adults, pregnant women, and post-partum women. These groups are exempted from any of the changes in the reconciliation bill. This means, that in Florida, the only people who will lose coverage are illegal immigrants and people who have never actually been eligible for Medicaid. This is what we mean when we say we are eliminating fraud.
QUESTION: Are the bill’s work requirements too burdensome?
ANSWER: Able-bodied adults without dependents or co-occurring exclusions should work, pursue education/training, or perform community service in order to receive taxpayer subsidized Medicaid coverage. The following populations are exempt from work requirements: pregnant women, foster youth or former foster youth up to age 26, members of a Tribe, disabled individuals, and individuals who are a parent or caregiver of a dependent child or an individual with a disability. In Florida, able bodied adults, who don’t fall into one of the exempted categories above, have never qualified for Medicaid and thus the new requirements do not change Florida’s Medicaid eligibility.
QUESTION: Does this bill pay for tax cuts for billionaires?
ANSWER: The historic tax cuts included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) impacted every American family. It is vital that we extend TCJA and prevent Americans’ taxes from going up. But independent of the need for tax certainty, our Medicaid program is on the brink. This bill also eliminates billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse and refocuses Medicaid on those who need it most.
If you have any other questions, my office is always ready to help. Please call my office at 727-232-2921 if you have questions about this or any other issue.
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