Report: Miami-Dade to face tough choices as federal funding for uninsured dwindles

Florida legislators, meeting this month in Tallahassee, are looking down the barrel of a healthcare financial crisis for the second consecutive year.

News Story (Florida)

Daniel Chang
Miami Herald
January 20, 2016
READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Tags: Health Care

Organizations mentioned/involved: Florida Legal Services (FLS)


DETAILS

In the report, Florida Legal Services, a nonprofit advocate of expanding coverage through the Affordable Care Act, sounds an alarm about a confluence of state and federal health policy decisions that are likely to strain the healthcare safety net, forcing local hospitals to compete for a dwindling pot of money and to make difficult choices about how to best meet the needs of the uninsured.

“This is something that counties cannot ignore,” said Miriam Harmatz, a senior health law attorney for Florida Legal and co-author of the report. “If you are low income and uninsured, you never had an easy time accessing the safety net, even at the height of [federal and state] funding, and now it’s going to be much, much harder.”

At stake is the ability for hospitals to support charity care programs that provide free or reduced-price healthcare to low-income, uninsured residents.