Life and politics from the Sunshine State's best city

Tag archive

Health and Human Services

‘Nothing, nothing.’ Aid lags in hurricane-torn Puerto Rico

in 2017/Top Headlines by

Relatives helped Maribel Valentin Espino find shelter when Hurricane Maria roared through her community in northern Puerto Rico. Neighbors formed volunteer brigades to cut fallen trees and clear twisty mountain roads after the storm had passed. Now, friends and a local cattle ranch provide the water they need to survive in the tropical heat.

Keep Reading

If Republicans have a better idea to replace Obamacare, let’s hear it

in 2017/Top Headlines by

I have a friend who has owned a small restaurant in Tampa for decades. He voted for Donald Trump for two important reasons: Trump isn’t Hillary Clinton, and he hates Obamacare. Let me rephrase that: He doesn’t like Hillary, but he loathes Obamacare with unyielding venom. Keeping up with its requirements, he said, has been an expensive nightmare. He wants it gone. Today. This is a kind and decent man who is all-in on goodness. He is charitable, law-abiding and…

Keep Reading

Rick Scott calls on HHS to send 5,000 Zika preparedness kits to Florida

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

Gov. Rick Scott is calling on federal officials to help Florida prepare for the spread of Zika. Scott met with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell on Wednesday morning. In a statement after the meeting, Scott said he met with Burwell to “relay requests that state agencies need from the federal government.” Those requests, said Scott, include 5,000 Zika preparedness kits to “ensure Florida residents and visitors have access to items that will reduce the risk of getting Zika…

Keep Reading

Florida budget snarled as governor challenges ‘Obamacare’

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a longtime opponent of “Obamacare,” made a startling announcement shortly after his mother’s death, going on TV two years ago to explain that he had dropped his objections to President Barack Obama‘s health care overhaul. The Republican governor, a former hospital executive who entered politics running TV ads against the Affordable Care Act, said then in 2013 that his mother’s death had changed his perspective, and that he could no longer “in good conscience” oppose expanding…

Keep Reading

States watching Medicaid standoff between Florida, Obama

in Top Headlines by

The Obama administration rebuffed Florida’s Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal to extend federal funds for hospitals that treat the uninsured, increasing the pressure on states that have refused to expand coverage for low-income people under the president’s health care law. The decision means Florida’s already acrimonious state budget process will likely become tenser. The standoff also has implications for eight other states, including Texas, which draw billions of dollars from the same pool of hospital funds. And like Florida, several are…

Keep Reading

Rick Scott tells feds, ‘We need federal action right now’

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

Gov. Rick Scott said on Wednesday that he is prepared to walk away from additional Medicaid dollars and prepare a base budget if the state doesn’t get approval from the federal government on the Low Income Pool soon. Scott addressed the media  after meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell. Scott went to Washington to request the federal government to approve the state’s amendment to its existing 1115 waiver that allows the state to operate a mandatory Medicaid managed-care…

Keep Reading

Go to Top