A deadly choice
14 04 08 - 12:52
Deciding between rhetoric and lives
The lack of health insurance kills six Floridians a day, according to a recent report by Families USA. People die because they don't get the preventative health care that would catch serious conditions such as cancer while they're still treatable, or because progressive illnesses like heart disease and diabetes aren't controlled with medication and oversight. The group estimates that 2400 Floridians between the ages of 25 and 64 died in 2006 because they lacked insurance.
Despite health programs targeted at them, many of Florida's children also go without the care they need. A separate report, published by the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration, All Children's Hospital and Nemours, estimates that one in every 10 Florida children don't get the basic health-care services they need to grow up healthy. Many of those children lack insurance, but some have nominal coverage that doesn't meet their needs, the report concluded.
After the current legislative session, those grim statistics could grow worse.
The Legislature clearly faces tough choices. But lawmakers are aiming cuts at people who can least afford to bear them, and institutions that are already stretched to the limit.
House and Senate leaders are proposing cuts of around $600 million in Medicaid money that would otherwise go to hospitals. About half of those cuts would fall on "safety net" hospitals such as Halifax Medical Center, Shands Hospital in Gainesville and Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Those cuts couldn't come at a worse time. These publicly owned hospitals are already seeing an increasing number of people in their emergency rooms who lack insurance and need treatment. Hospitals have become expert at juggling revenue sources, including local taxes, Medicaid and private insurance, to help pay for care to those who have no insurance at all -- but they can only stretch a dollar so far.
A cruel cut being contemplated by the Legislature could literally mean a death sentence for some of the 19,500 adults enrolled in Florida's Medically Needy program. Medically Needy helps to cover drugs and hospitalization for working-age adults who have no insurance and are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses. Without this program, hospital officials may have to face a young mother diagnosed with breast cancer and tell her there's nothing to be done.
Meanwhile, the Senate has proposed eliminating supplemental Medicaid for 24,000 seniors and disabled people living well below the poverty line.
There are alternatives, but thus far, lawmakers refuse to consider them. They are particularly resistant to the notion of an additional tax on tobacco. It's a position they should reconsider.
Florida's cigarette tax is lower than 45 other states. And raising it by $1 per pack, as proposed by Democratic lawmakers, would have a dual benefit.
First, the Legislature would reap $1 billion, enough to avoid life-threatening budget cuts and even expand health programs. The research on uninsured Floridians bears out the need for more state investment in health care. Additionally, increased tobacco taxes have a proven impact on reducing teen smoking: If packs and tins of smokeless tobacco are more expensive, teens and young adults are less likely to ever start smoking, dipping or chewing -- meaning they'll never become addicted.
The alternative -- pulling funding from essential programs, and turning a blind eye toward the suffering that will ensue -- should be unthinkable for lawmakers of conscience. Taxes may be politically unpopular, but lives depend on lawmakers' willingness to do the right thing.