No Medicaid expansion in Florida means businesses will pay : Uninsured workers must either get health insurance from their employers, or they can turn to a federal health exchange to purchase insurance. If they use a federal exchange, their bosses will be penalized

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Excerpts from Tampa Bay Times :


A story in today's paper deals with one of the ripple effects of the Legislature's inability to reach a deal on Medicaid expanion this session. Roughly 1 million uninsured Floridians would have received coverage if a deal had been reached. Many of them work for businesses that now must provide that insurance or face hefty federal fines.


An excerpt:

Either way, the Legislature's inaction will saddle many businesses with additional costs that could reach, in total, close to $150 million next year.

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"If you do not do Medicaid expansion, or something similar to that, there is a very real penalty imposed upon the employers of the state of Florida," said Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, who had pushed some compromise.

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Part of the law that remained in place requires businesses with more than 50 full-time employees to provide health insurance coverage to anyone working more than 30 hours a week. Many people in agriculture, tourism and hospitality would have been eligible for an expanded Medicaid program.


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Tampa Bay Times
No Medicaid expansion means businesses will pay
By Tia Mitchell, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Sunday, May 5, 2013


No Medicaid expansion means businesses will pay

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