May 28, a coalition of health advocates converged on the Hialeah offices of state Rep. Jose Oliva to deliver a petition from thousands of Floridians who demand that the Legislature expand Medicaid.
In April, House Republican leaders abruptly ended the legislative session rather than consider the Senate’s proposal to accept federal dollars to expand health care to uninsured Florida residents. The move left patients, hospitals and taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars — and derailed the state budget in the process.
The issue at hand is that moderate Republicans in the House are afraid to buck the party line laid down by a minority of extremists within the leadership. A special session to decide the issue began June 1.
Health advocates around the state have been working to put pressure on these rank and file House members to encourage them to stand up for the residents in their districts and vote for health care expansion, as proposed by the Florida Senate.
Rep. Oliva was targeted because he represents the zip code (33012) where more people signed up for Obamacare than any other zip code in the country. The other zip codes in the top five were all from South Florida. Miami-Dade County has the largest population of uninsured residents in the state. Read the Miami Herald story here.
Watch a short video of the actions here.
GET INVOLVED!
Call one of the “immoral minority” in our area who are blocking access to health care. Demand action to protect our patients and our hospital funding!