By Robert Sulzer
September 28, 2013
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), due to a 5-4 Supreme Court decision, is the Law of the Land! But, Florida has been among the most resistant of the GOP-controlled states to implement the ACA. Governor Scott`s latest move is to block health care Navigators from providing information regarding the ACA to uninsured Floridians by disallowing the Navigators from operating on county health department grounds.
This move by Governor Scott is cruel and unconscionable. His political agenda, to see the ACA fail, punishes the most vulnerable Floridians. According to the U.S. Census, there are 3.8 million uninsured people in Florida. These millions of uninsured people need guidance to help understand the ACA, identify the best plan available to them in the health care Marketplace, and to navigate the process to select the most advantageous plan for themselves and their families under the Affordable Care Act. It is the job of the Navigator to provide this assistance and to help the Americans understand their rights under the ACA.
Under Gov. Scott`s plan, the local health departments will be allowed to provide materials about available insurance plans only if a client asks for it. Personnel working at the local health department facilities will not be allowed to voluntarily offer a client written information, such as bulletins, describing the available heath care plans. Most importantly, those highly trained Navigators will not be able to provide information and support from local health department facilities.
Navigators face a tough time in Florida, even without these new restrictions by Gov. Scott. These Navigators are hired and trained and they must pass an exam and then go through state required criminal background checks. These workers have been getting ready for October 1, when the federally operated online Marketplace in Florida is scheduled to open. The purpose of the Marketplace is to provide comparison shopping and arrange for subsidized coverage for those uninsured Americans who qualify. Health care coverage for these Americans will go into effect on January 1, 2014. Many of the benefits of the ACA are already in effect and millions of Americans have coverage that they otherwise would not have.
Many Republicans who oppose the Affordable Care Act falsely, knowingly, argue that the Obama administration wants to amass a huge database of Americans` health information, for nefarious purposes, or that the Navigators on their own might steal personal information. Those claims have been refuted by U.S. Health and Human Services spokeswoman Joanne Peters who said, “Contrary to Gov. Scott`s statements, consumers will never be asked to provide their personal information to the Marketplace whether through a Navigator or not.” She added, “There is no such database of Americans` health information, and multiple fact checkers have debunked this claim. Once again, the GOP can’t win on policy so they resort to false claims and scare tactics.
Democrats, such as Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Alan Grayson, Alcee Hastings, Ted Deutch and Corrine Brown have been strongly critical of Gov. Scott`s devious plan against the Affordable Care Act being successful. We must support them and express our opposition to this plan—to our neighbors, newspapers and to our lawmakers.