Although Marie Museau, a nursing assistant at Palmetto Hospital in Hialeah, Fla., works as a healthcare provider, she does not have health insurance. She and thousands of other healthcare workers in the Sunshine State spend their days attending to the health of others, yet cannot afford to visit a doctor themselves.
Museau makes too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to afford the family health insurance plan she could purchase from her employer, which would cost her closer to $600 per month. “That’s almost half my take-home pay,” she said.
If Museau lived in Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky–or any one of 23 other states–she would qualify for fully paid healthcare thanks to the new healthcare law. The law transfers billions of federal dollars to the states, so they can expand their Medicaid programs to cover millions of additional working Americans.
However, because politicians in Florida have blocked the state from accepting the funding–which is fully paid by the federal government initially and later 90 percent federally paid–she and three of her children will continue to go without health insurance.
Museau has a fourth child–a son who requires intensive care at home after a car accident several years ago. She worries about her own health, and her ability to care for her injured son if she gets ill. “I have heart issues and need to see a cardiologist, but at this point I just can’t afford to,” she says.
Museau was failed by her state. By refusing to accept the $51 billion in fully paid federal funding, Florida politicians lost their chance to insure 1.2 million Floridians and create 120,000 new healthcare jobs in the state. All of this just to try to sabotage the new healthcare law and appease tea party extremists who are demanding its repeal.
The fight is not over. SEIU members have been working overtime to persuade Florida lawmakers, including Gov. Rick Scott, to finally accept these dollars that will give hardworking Floridians just like Museau the affordable healthcare they need.
“I’m hoping the state of Florida accepts that money,” Museau said. “It would really help me and my family.”‘
This article was originally printed on SEIU on November 20, 2013. Reprinted with permission.
Author: SEIU Communications.
