Latest news with #MedicaidExpansion
Washington Post
5 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Campaign groups urge judge to further limit new restrictions on getting measures on Florida's ballot
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Attorneys for grassroots campaigners are again asking a federal judge to halt enforcement of parts of a new Florida law that restricts the state's process to get citizens' initiatives on the ballot . Tuesday's arguments before U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee were the latest attempt by attorneys for voter advocacy groups and campaigns for Medicaid expansion and recreational marijuana to carve away at a law that they argue unconstitutionally hamstrings citizens' abilities to amend Florida's constitution.
Associated Press
5 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Campaign groups urge judge to further limit new restrictions on getting measures on Florida's ballot
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for grassroots campaigners are again asking a federal judge to halt enforcement of parts of a new Florida law that restricts the state's process to get citizens' initiatives on the ballot. Tuesday's arguments before U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee were the latest attempt by attorneys for voter advocacy groups and campaigns for Medicaid expansion and recreational marijuana to carve away at a law that they argue unconstitutionally hamstrings citizens' abilities to amend Florida's constitution. So far, Walker has issued mixed rulings in the case, freezing some portions of the law but allowing other parts to go into effect, even as the campaigns try to gather enough signatures from voters to qualify for the 2026 ballot. Walker had already blocked some provisions of the statute that bar noncitizens and residents of other states from gathering petitions to get a measure on the ballot. On Tuesday, attorneys came back to ask Walker to expand that ruling, barring state attorneys from enforcing that aspect of the law against their clients. Walker had previously blocked enforcement by the attorney general, secretary of state and local elections supervisors against the plaintiffs. 'We're here to address a gap in the relief provided,' said Glenn Burhans, an attorney for Smart & Safe Florida, the recreational marijuana campaign. 'In our view, it makes for a cleaner record and a much more clear situation on the ground to make sure that the state attorneys are enjoined,' Burhans added. An attorney for Latino voter engagement group Poder Latinx also urged Walker to shield their members from prosecution under the noncitizen provision. In this latest round of requests to the court, an attorney for the state of Florida argued Walker shouldn't reward what he described as vexatious, piecemeal motions. 'That's no way to run a railroad. And it's no way to run a case like this,' said Mohammad Jazil, an attorney for Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd. 'They should seek their strongest basis for relief the first time, or in this case the second time, and we should move on from there,' Jazil said of the plaintiffs. 'But that's not what we're doing.' Walker declined to rule from the bench, saying he would issue an order on Tuesday. Other plaintiffs in the case are expected to make their own arguments for a preliminary injunction next month, with a trial scheduled to start in January. Legislatures in dozens of states have advanced bills recently to crack down on the public's ability to put measures up for a vote, according to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. Voting rights advocates say the trend betrays the promise of direct democracy. Under Florida's law, an individual could be charged with a felony if they collect more than 25 signed ballot petitions, other than their own or those of immediate family members, and don't register with the state as a petition circulator. The law signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in May also gives campaigns just 10 days instead of the previous 30 to return signed petition forms to local elections officials. Petitioners could also face stiff fines if they don't return the petitions on time or send them to the wrong county. Lawmakers argue that the restrictions are needed to reform a process they claim has been tainted by fraud. The Republican-controlled Legislature pushed the changes months after a majority of Florida voters supported ballot initiatives to protect abortion rights and legalize recreational marijuana, though the measures fell short of the 60% needed to pass. ___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Business Wire
16-06-2025
- Health
- Business Wire
Healthy Blue Louisiana and Grace at the Greenlight Partner to Support Vulnerable Communities in New Orleans
BATON ROUGE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Healthy Blue Louisiana and Grace at the Greenlight, a New Orleans nonprofit at the forefront of serving people experiencing homelessness, are partnering to expand access to essential services such as food, shelter, and support for people in need. This collaboration highlights Healthy Blue's commitment to whole health by recognizing that true wellness includes addressing basic needs beyond traditional medical care. From food to housing to healthcare—Healthy Blue is building healthier communities across Louisiana. 'Healthy Blue Louisiana is committed to addressing the real-world challenges that affect health outcomes for our most vulnerable residents,' said Dr. Christy Valentine Theard, President of Healthy Blue Louisiana. 'Our support of Grace at the Greenlight reflects our continued effort to meet people where they are, build community partnerships, and deliver targeted, high-impact solutions that create lasting change. Together, we're advancing comprehensive physical, behavioral, and social health to build stronger, healthier communities across Louisiana.' Healthy Blue Louisiana continues to invest in the health and vitality of people across the state. Over the past few years, the organization has contributed more than $2.7 million to initiatives that strengthen workforce readiness, improve maternal and infant health outcomes, reduce food insecurity, and expand access to essential resources. Healthy Blue's partnerships and programs have contributed to a 17 percent reduction in emergency room visits and an 8 percent decrease in inpatient hospital stays among its members in Louisiana. By focusing on prevention, early intervention, and personalized support, Healthy Blue helps individuals and families achieve better whole health outcomes. Sarah Parks, Executive Director of Grace at the Greenlight, emphasized the importance of the partnership: 'This support from Healthy Blue Louisiana comes at a critical time. It allows us to expand our services and meet urgent needs in the community, and it shows what's possible when organizations come together with empathy and a shared purpose to uplift communities.' ABOUT HEALTHY BLUE LOUISIANA Healthy Blue is a managed healthcare provider that has been serving the state since 2012, and currently serves the state's Medicaid, Medicaid Expansion and LaCHIP programs. Healthy Blue, a joint venture between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and Anthem Partnership Holding Company, LLC (parent company, Anthem, Inc.), recognizes the challenges low-income and underserved individuals face, and tailors its programs such that health plan members are assured care that is not only accessible, but also accountable, comprehensive, integrated and patient-centered. Healthy Blue provides ongoing community relations and outreach to encourage members to become active participants in their healthcare. Also, through health education programs, members are empowered to choose and sustain healthy lifestyles. To learn more about Healthy Blue, visit and follow the company on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) @HealthyBlueLA, and on LinkedIn @healthy-blue-louisiana. Grace at the Greenlight is a New Orleans-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to offering individuals experiencing homelessness choices and providing for their basic needs—such as water, food, clothing, and community—in a compassionate manner that honors the human spirit. Since its founding in 2014, Grace has served over 350,000 meals, distributed more than 1.3 million bottles of water, and reunited over 3,250 individuals with loved ones through its "Going Home" program. The organization also operates a community clothing closet and is actively installing hydration stations across the city to ensure 24/7 access to clean drinking water. To learn more, visit
Forbes
03-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why Do We Care How Much We Spend On Medicaid?
The U.S. has fewer hospital beds per person than Europe does. In evaluating the success of Obamacare in general and Medicaid expansion in particular, reporters and commentators have tended to focus on only one measure: the increase in the number of people with health insurance. At the same time, in evaluating the health consequences of the House Republican reconciliation measure, almost all the focus has been on the number of people who will lose health insurance. The implicit premise in all of this is: more health insurance means more health care and less health insurance means less health care. That has been the premise behind virtually every important piece of health care legislation going all the way back to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in1965. Yet the premise ignores a fundamental economic principle: no matter what happens to the demand for care, there won't be a change in health care delivered unless there is a change in supply. Under Obamacare, we are certainly spending more money. The annual cost of Medicaid expansion is $130 billion and the cost of exchange subsidies is more than $60 billion. What are we getting in return for all this extra spending? Although there has been a substantial increase in the number of people with health insurance, one study finds that there has been no overall increase in health care. In fact, the nation may be getting less care. In 2023, 13 years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), the number of hospital admissions per capita was 19 percent lower and the number of hospital days was18 percent lower than the year the act was passed. In the 9 years following the passage of Obamacare, doctor visits per capita declined by 18%. Further, our health care resources appear to be quite skimpy in comparison to other developed countries. Today, the United States has 2.7 doctors per 1,000 people, while the European average is 4.1. The U.S. has fewer than three hospital beds per 1,000 residents. The EU has more than five. And our country doesn't seem to be getting any healthier. Life expectancy in 2024 was lower than it was ten years earlier. As for Medicaid, numerous studies through the years have produced conflicting results on what difference the program makes for enrollee health. Yet these studies suffer from all the problems that are inherent in making inferences from population statistics. One study was different. The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that examined the medical condition of real people. Medicaid enrollees were selected by lottery and after two years the investigators compared the medical condition of those who enrolled with those who didn't. The results: enrollees had less financial stress and were less likely to be depressed, but there was no difference in their physical health. One of the Oregon investigators, MIT economist Amy Finkelstein, helps us understand those results. People without health insurance, she notes, still get about 80 percent of the health care that Medicaid enrollees get. And when they are confronted with high medical bills, they actually pay only a small portion of them. You might suppose that Medicaid enrollees are less likely to rely on hospital emergency rooms. The reverse is true. Once they enroll, Medicaid patients increase their trips to the emergency room by 40 percent. This may explain why Medicaid enrollees place a very low value on enrollment. If you were to offer to buy their Medicaid insurance coverage, it appears that the average enrollee would sell her insurance for as little as 20 cents on the dollar. Moreover, among the lottery winners who were offered enrollment in Oregon, more than half turned the offer down! By implication, these folks placed no value on the opportunity to enroll. These findings have convinced Finkelstein (certainly no right-winger) that rather than giving low-income families more Medicaid, we should give them cash instead. Here is one way to do that. Private companies managing Medicaid (or the state itself) should be able to make deposits to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) that would cover, say, all primary care. Enrollees would be restricted to using the money for health care during an insurance year. With these funds, they would be able to pay market prices (instead of Medicaid fees) at doctor's offices, walk-in clinics and urgent care centers – allowing them to buy medical care the way they buy food with food stamps. This would allow low-income families to have the same health care opportunities that middle-income families have. At the end of the insurance period, they could withdraw any unspent funds for any purpose. If there were no taxes or penalties for non-medical withdrawals, health care and non-health care would be trading against each other on a level playing field under the tax law. People wouldn't spend a dollar on health care unless they got a dollar's worth of value. An early study by the RAND Corporation suggests that these accounts could reduce Medicaid spending by 30 percent. Excluding payments for the disabled and nursing home care, the savings would amount to almost $1 trillion over ten years. This saving would be shared by the beneficiaries and the taxpayers who fund Medicaid. This is one way to resolve the impasse in the Senate over the House reconciliation bill. HSAs for Medicaid are a way to make the program better for enrollees and cut spending at the same time.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Medicaid expansion would be a lifeline for Floridians; that's why we're suing
Let's not sugarcoat it: Florida's healthcare policies are failing us. They're failing the single mother in Ocala who earns $15,000 a year working part-time and was recently diagnosed with cancer — but can't afford the treatment she needs to survive. They're failing rural hospitals on the brink of collapse. And they're failing the hundreds of thousands of Floridians stuck in the 'coverage gap'— earning too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford private insurance. And now, to make matters worse, our state's lawmakers have passed a law that aims to take away one of the last tools Floridians have to fix it: the power of citizen-led constitutional amendments. That's why Florida Decides Healthcare filed a federal lawsuit challenging the dangerous new law known as House Bill 1205. This isn't just about getting Medicaid expansion on the ballot. This is about defending the very foundation of our democracy: the people's right to be heard and to shape their own future. This law, signed by the governor, isn't reform. It's repression. HB 1205 is a cynical effort to make it harder for everyday Floridians — teachers, nurses, veterans, parents — to participate in their own government. It buries citizens in red tape, threatens them with criminal penalties, and intimidates them for simply trying to collect signatures. It's designed to silence us, to shut down grassroots movements, and to keep power locked in Tallahassee's political elite. But we're not backing down. Because we know what's at stake. Medicaid expansion could transform lives in every corner of Florida—from the Panhandle to the Keys. It would bring billions of our own federal tax dollars back to our state — money we're already sending to Washington, only to fund healthcare in other states. It would help stabilize struggling hospitals, especially in rural areas where 135 hospitals have closed since 2010. It would let people see a doctor without risking bankruptcy. This isn't welfare — it's common sense. More than 60% of the people who would benefit from expansion are part of working families. Medicaid helps people stay healthy enough to work, care for loved ones, and contribute to their communities. And study after study has shown that expansion wouldn't raise taxes — it would grow Florida's economy. Floridians get it. Nearly 8 in 10 — Republicans, Democrats and independents — support Medicaid expansion. It's not a partisan issue. It's a people issue. And when our elected officials refuse to act, the people have not just the right, but the responsibility, to do it themselves. That's what Florida's citizen-led amendment process is for. It's how we raised the minimum wage, legalized medical marijuana, and protected our land and water. It's a tool for communities to drive change when politicians won't. HB 1205 is not about accountability or transparency. It's about fear of the people and the power they hold. This law hacks away at a process that may need refining, but not destruction. It puts up traps and hurdles to ensure only the wealthy and politically connected can get an idea on the ballot. It is a direct assault on the will of the people. And if it's allowed to stand here, you can bet it will spread across the country. This is how democracy erodes — not in one sweeping moment, but in a thousand paper cuts to participation, voice, and power. But we're not letting that happen. We filed this lawsuit because we believe in the power of the people. We believe the single mother in Miami, the bus driver in Fort Myers, and the veteran in Jacksonville deserve a voice in the laws that shape their lives. Floridians — not politicians afraid of accountability — should have the final say. This lawsuit is our declaration: We will not let them rig the rules. We will not be silenced. We're collecting signatures. We're building coalitions. We're taking this fight from the courtroom to the streets to the ballot box. Because Medicaid expansion isn't just smart policy — it's a moral imperative. And the citizen initiative process isn't just a political tool—it's a right we will defend. Mitch Emerson is executive director of Florida Decides Healthcare.
