Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

It's Simply the Right Thing to Do

More than four million Floridians lack basic health insurance, leading to nearly $3 billion in unreimbursed care. There is both a basic moral argument for ensuring access to affordable health insurance for children and working families as well as an economic argument: People with health insurance have to pay more to make up for those who don't have coverage.

As Governor, Charlie created Cover Florida, a marketplace where individuals could group together and buy cheaper health insurance. He also expanded KidCare, which provides affordable health insurance for the children of working families. Charlie also sought to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for seniors by creating the Florida Discount Drug Card, which gave over 150,000 seniors access to negotiated discounts on prescription drugs.

Increasing Access to Health Insurance

As Governor, Charlie will make increasing the number of people with health insurance a priority. Unlike Governor Scott, who has turned over responsibility for running the health insurance exchange to the federal government, Charlie will run the exchange right here in Florida, so that we can provide access to types of insurance that Floridians need -- and we'll be able to hold Florida government workers accountable for technology or other issues.

Charlie will also work with Republicans and Democrats to expand health insurance to more than one million working Floridians who simply don't earn enough to be able to afford health insurance. Charlie's plan would allow Florida to access roughly $50 billion from the federal government -- tax dollars Floridians have already paid -- to create an affordable health insurance plan for working Florida families. This would create more than 71,000 jobs, and would reduce the fees that business owners will be required to pay for the Affordable Care Act.

Helping the disabled

As Governor, Charlie appointed a 21-member commission charged with providing recommendations for improving and enriching the lives of Floridians with developmental and physical disabilities.Among the results, the state created a statewide Disabilities Coordinator to work with local and state governments to better coordinate the needs of the disabled during disasters.

On behalf of disabled veterans, Charlie signed a law that waived permitting fees for disabled veterans to retrofit their homes to be disabled accessible

Charlie also worked to expand programs to give the disabled more opportunities to choose in-home care for health treatment through Medicaid. And Charlie signed a bill to provide Florida's disabled homeless children and disabled children in foster care with a designated advocate to help make educational decisions on their behalf.

Autism disorders

As Governor, Charlie signed legislation to require insurance companies to cover treatment for people on the autism spectrum. If elected, he'll continue to support funding for research to improve the prevention, detection, and treatment of autism spectrum disorders.

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