Marion County, Florida — A new report for Florida shows that President Obama’s promise of affordable health insurance is anything but reality, and Marion County residents are feeling the effects as local businesses began cutting work hours in August of 2013.
Last year Ocala Post reported on Medicaid expansion and how the Florida House chose to vote against expanding Medicaid under Obama’s “Affordable Care Act” in fear it would cost the state to much money.
The new report shows that Floridians are too poor to even qualify for the “Affordable Care Act.” Residents earning approximately $24,000 a year for a family of four are not eligible for tax credits, according to the standards set by “Obamacare.” Over one million Floridians, according to market place standards, are too poor.
The Florida House says they do not want to cover “lazy” people, however according to the Medicaid guidelines, many residents make too much money to qualify for Medicaid. So now… not only can residents not qualify for Medicaid, they are too poor to qualify for “Obamacare.”
Analysts said that the poor, who should be qualifying for something, will not be able to because the House chose to vote against Medicaid expansion. The lack of tax credits will prevent everyone that is living below the poverty level from being able to afford coverage. This will certainly affect pregnant women, children, the disabled and single parents.
Vice President Jo Biden is placing the blame directly on Governor Rick Scott, while others are pointing the finger at Obama and his administration.
Only 300,000 people in Florida have signed up with the marketplace, a far cry from the millions that President Obama was expecting.
Biden said if Governor Rick Scott had accepted the Medicaid dollars that were offered to the state, then Florida would be in much better shape. Biden says Governor Scott can still get on board if he chooses to do so.
Analysts are predicting that by the year 2017 there will be an additional 1.2 million people out of work as employers continue to cut work hours below 28 hours a week.
The Obama administration fired back by stating that the reason people will be out of work is because they will choose to be, that way a person who doesn’t work can qualify for Medicaid and other government funds; completely placing the burden and the failure of ‘Obamacare” on U.S. residents.
An e-mail to Ocala Post from the White House stated that the economy is recovering and the employment rate is up. Citing that real estate is beginning to boom because home purchases are on the rise, namely in Florida.
However as Ocala Post pointed out in November of 2013, it is not hard working Americans that are buying homes, or businesses for that matter, it is foreigners.
“I signed an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 for federal contract workers,” Obama wrote.
“It’s the right thing to do. But what’s more, companies have found that when their employees earn more, they’re more motivated, they work harder, and they stick around longer.”
Experts argue that raising the federal minimum wage will cripple the economy. Employers can barely afford to pay benefits to employees, much less a higher wage. McDonalds workers are demanding $15.00 an hour for asking, “Do you want fires with that?”
Meanwhile, college graduates are working two jobs to pay back student loans because employers cannot afford to pay graduates what they are worth.
We want to hear from you. Do you think Medicaid should be reformed? Do you think federal minimum wage should be increased? Leave comments below.
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