Lawmakers push for health care expansion

FHIX would require low-income Floridians to work, use co-pays instead of receiving insurance subsidies

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Senate looks like it's poised to pass a plan that would expand Medicaid in the state, which could help almost one million Floridians. But some conservatives are feeling heat from their own supporters.

Tuesday, members of the Senate were in Washington to discuss health care funding, including Medicaid and other options, with federal officials.

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Margarita Romo said members of Farmworkers Self Help, the group she established to provide assistance to migrant farm workers, know all too well the pains of falling into the Medicaid coverage gap.

"I don't know why we get so wrapped up in thinking that we have to pass a budget and that it has to kill a lot of people in order for it to be right," Romo said.

Romo said expansion is important not just for adults, but thousands of children who have to wait years for a doctor's visit.

The Florida Senate is pushing an expansion plan called the Florida Health Insurance Affordability Exchange, or FHIX, which would require low-income Floridians to work or use co-pays instead of receiving insurance subsidies. 

"This is a very bloated expansion, and the citizens need to know that," said Skylar Zander, of Americans for Prosperity.

Americans for Prosperity, which is funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, is sending out mailers to constituents of 25 senators, including the Senate president, urging them to speak out about the move.

"I understand Americans for Prosperity has a job to do, and I get it, but the fact is that we have a job as legislators," Sen. Anitere Flores said. "We have a job that we have to ensure that Floridians have access to health care that is affordable, that it's something they can use. We're fulfilling our job, and we're doing it in a responsible way."

Some senators said they're fully willing to push the session into overtime if the House doesn't come around on the idea.

"My peers are already prepared to continue this session on, not Sine Die, and force the House to make a decision," Sen. Darren Soto said.

The House has so far rejected the idea of any form of expansion