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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
May 21, 2014
Camila Gallardo
(305) 215-4259
cgallardo@nclr.org
As State legislature fails to act, thousands of Latinos fall into the health care coverage gap
ORLANDO, Fla.—Today, during a noon press conference, NCLR (National Council of La Raza) and community partners, including Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando, Hispanic Health Initiatives, Inc., State Senator Darren Soto, State Representative Ricardo Rangel, State Representative Victor Manuel Torres, Jr., Florida CHAIN, Mi Familia Vota and WellCare Health Plans, Inc., presented findings from an NCLR report: “Medicaid Expansion in Florida: A Latino Perspective.”
The report highlights how the state legislature’s refusal to expand Medicaid in Florida has placed hundreds of thousands of Floridians in a position where they are unable to attain health care coverage. Florida has the third-highest rate of uninsured individuals in the nation (29 percent), and Latinos make up a significant percentage. Thirty-six percent of nonelderly Latinos in the state are currently uninsured, and according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly 200,000 Hispanics are without health coverage as a result of the state’s failure to expand Medicaid.
Latinos suffer certain chronic diseases at higher rates than their white counterparts, which makes preventative health care even more critical for this population. “Health disparities in racial and ethnic minority communities remain a serious issue,” stated Jenna Tosh, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando. “Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among Latinas, and Latina women are twice as likely to lose their lives to cervical cancer as white women. At Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando we see more than 21,000 patient visits each year, and found in a recent survey that 60 percent of our patients fall in the health coverage gap."
Lack of health coverage not only affects the wellness of thousands of the state’s citizens, but their pocketbooks as well. The report underscored the financial strain caused by lack of medical coverage, including alarming national statistics that indicate more than half of U.S. bankruptcies come as a result of medical debt.
In addition, the report highlights the economic benefits of Medicaid expansion, including statistics provided by the Florida legislature’s Social Services Estimating Conference, which show that Medicaid expansion would cost the state $1.7 billion, but would bring in $24.5 billion in federal funding to the state over a 10-year period. To the contrary, Florida is already losing out on almost $7 million per day by not accepting federal help to expand Medicaid.
“Medicaid expansion would not only help address the critical need for individual health care coverage, it would in fact serve as an economic boon for the state in the form of reduced state payments to safety net providers, decreased expenditures on state-funded programs for mental health and substance abuse services accessed by the uninsured, and decreased expenditures on the Medicaid Medically Needy Program, which currently cost the state $500 to $600 million annually,” said Jared Nordlund, Florida Senior Strategist, NCLR. “The state legislature should reconsider its position on Medicaid expansion, particularly as it’s clear it would only serve to benefit the health and well-being of Floridians and help boost the state’s economy,” Nordlund concluded.
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.
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