United States House of Representatives, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
color photographs of scenes from Florida's Twentieth Congressional District
Press Release

Why Florida Needs Health Reform

June 29, 2009
(Washington, DC)  -- Congress and the President are working to enact health care reform legislation that will keep what works in our health care system and fix what is broken.  Floridians know that inaction is not an option.  Sky-rocketing health care costs are hurting families, forcing businesses to cut or drop health benefits, and straining state budgets. Millions are paying more for less.  Florida families and businesses deserve better.


FLORIDIANS CAN’T AFFORD THE STATUS QUO

  • Roughly 9.8 million people in Florida get health insurance at work1, where family premiums average $12,780 -- about the annual earning of a full-time minimum wage job.2
  • Since 2000 alone, average family premiums have increased by 88 percent in Florida.3
  • Household budgets are strained by high costs: 21 percent of middle-income Florida families spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care.4
  • High costs block access to care: 15 percent of people in Florida report not visiting a doctor due to high costs.5
  • Florida businesses and families shoulder a hidden health tax of roughly $1,400 per year on premiums as a direct result of subsidizing the costs of the uninsured.6

AFFORDABLE HEALTH COVERAGE IS INCREASINGLY OUT OF REACH IN FLORDIA

  • Twenty-one percent of people in Florida are uninsured, and 73 percent of them are in families with at least one full-time worker.7
  • The percent of Floridians with employer coverage declined from 57 to 54 percent between 2000 and 2007.8
  • Much of the decline is among workers in small businesses. While small businesses make up 78 percent of Florida businesses, only 39 percent of them offered health coverage benefits in 2006 -- down 7 percent since 2000.10
  • Choice of health insurance is limited in Florida. BlueCross BlueShield FL alone constitutes 30 percent of the health insurance market share in Florida. The top two insurance providers account for 45 percent.11
  • Choice is even more limited for people with pre-existing conditions. In Florida, premiums can vary based on demographic factors and health status. Coverage can exclude pre-existing conditions or even be completely denied in some cases.

FLORIDIANS NEED HIGHER QUALITY, GREATER VALUE, AND MORE PREVENTATIVE CARE

  • The overall quality of care in Florida is rated as “Weak.”12
  • Preventative measures that could keep Floridians healthier and out of the hospital are deficient, leading to problems across the age spectrum:
  • 18 percent of children in Florida are obese.13
  • 18 percent of women over the age of 50 in Florida have not received a mammogram in the past two years.
  • 36 percent of men over the age of 50 in Florida have never had a colorectal cancer screening.
  • 65 percent of adults over the age of 65 in Florida have received a flu vaccine in the past year.14

The need for reform in Florida and across the country is clear. Florida families simply can’t afford the status quo, and they deserve better. President Obama is committed to working with Congress to pass health reform this year that will reduce costs for families, businesses and government; protect people’s choice of doctors, hospitals and health plans; and assure affordable, quality health care for all Americans.

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. HIA-4 Health Insurance Coverage Status and Type of Coverage by State--All Persons: 1999 to 2007, 2007.
  2. Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2006, Table X.D. Projected 2009 premiums based on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, "National Health Expenditure Data," available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/nationalhealthexpenddata/.
  3. Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2000, Table II.D.1.Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2006, Table X.D.Projected 2009 premiums based on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, "National Health Expenditure Data," available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/nationalhealthexpenddata/.
  4. Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2006.
  5. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007.
  6. Furnas, B., Harbage, P. (2009). "The Cost Shift from the Uninsured." Center for American Progress.
  7. U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. Annual Social and Economic Supplements, March 2007 and 2008.
  8. U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. HIA-4 Health Insurance Coverage Status and Type of Coverage by State--All Persons: 1999 to 2007, 2007.
  9. Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2006, Table II.A.1a.
  10. Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component, 2001, 2006, Table II.A.2.
  11. Health Care for America Now. (2009). "Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market." Health Care for America Now.
  12. Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. 2007 State Snapshots. Available http://statesnapshots.ahrq.gov/snaps07/index.jsp.
  13. Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health.
  14. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007.

Content for this page was pulled from a recent report on HealthReform.gov: http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/statehealthreform/florida.html