Viewpoint: Fix our health care

From the Pensacola (Fla.) NewsJournal, on April 10, 2015; written by Kim Williams:

Last week, Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, and all of the Florida Senate demonstrated true leadership when they passed a budget that included a comprehensive health care package designed to address the state's worsening health care crisis.

Florida has one of the highest rates of uninsured people in the nation leading to billions of dollars in uncompensated care each year that ultimately comes out of the pockets of businesses like mine in Tallahassee. Add to that the June 30 sunset of the $2 billion fund known as the Low Income Pool (LIP), and we have a true crisis on our hands.

But it's a crisis we have seen coming. Our state was notified last April that a new program must be created that provides significant reforms to existing LIP policies. And, for years, the business community has been calling for a solution to address health care coverage in our state. Employers want to keep their employees and their communities healthy. They also desperately need relief from the rising health insurance premiums they see each year due to uncompensated care. Also kicking in this year are financial penalties assessed on businesses unable to provide health care coverage to full-time employees and their dependents.

We need a fix for both the LIP and for the low-income, working Floridians who could receive preventative health care rather than being treated in emergency rooms or hospitals after they get sick.

The Florida Senate, under President Andy Gardiner, has done just that. Their plan includes sound reforms to LIP. It also creates an innovative new concept, called the Florida Health Insurance Affordability Exchange (FHIX) program, which would provide health care coverage to nearly 1 million uninsured, working Floridians.

The FHIX program is not an expansion of Medicaid, but an alternative developed to fit Florida's unique needs. It offers access to coverage through private health insurance plans and requires personal accountability through monthly premiums and job and education requirements.

FHIX is funded through dollars that we Floridians have already sent to Washington, D.C. Those dollars are already being paid through taxes on health insurers, taxes on durable medical equipment and reductions in payments to hospitals to cover the cost of care. It's money taken from Florida taxpayers and businesses, and we want it back.

Although history has shown that the federal government has provided consistent funding for health care programs, the Senate includes taxpayer and budget protections in its health care package. Should the federal government pull back funding, the FHIX program would end.

Our country was built on state governments and the federal government working together. We must work together to resolve this crisis.

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Kim Williams is president of Marpan and Marpan Recycling in Tallahassee. He also is a member of the A Healthy Florida Works coalition.

To view this online, go to http://www.pnj.com/story/opinion/2015/04/10/viewpoint-fix-health-care/25570885/.