Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/180498
Sarasota News Leader September 27, 2013 Page 12 on the grounds of county health departments, that directive won't affect efforts in Sarasota County because of the local office's federal grant. Critics have charged that the state department's actions are an attempt to intimidate and frustrate those tasked with helping uninsured Floridians sign up through the marketplace, another example of the state's hostility toward the healthcare reform law. The Florida Legislature declined to create its own state-level insurance marketplace, which led to the federal government stepping in, and the Legislature rejected tens of billions of federal dollars to expand Medicaid through ObamaCare. Caitlyn Miller, grassroots outreach manager with Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, says the decision to reject Medicaid leaves 1.2 million Floridians without access to healthcare. She joined representatives from Sarasota County government, Sarasota Memorial Hospital, First Step, Healthy Start and the League of Women Voters at a meeting last week to call on local lawmakers to support expanding Medicaid. Planned Parenthood doesn't have navigators or certified application counselors, but the organization is working hard to contact the "newly eligible," Miller points out. That includes phone banks and foot canvasses targeted at populations with a high percentage of the uninsured. "People are largely aware that something is going to happen, but they're not sure how it's going to affect them," Miller says. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was designed to expand healthcare insurance coverage in the United States. Image from the National Cancer Institute via Wikimedia Commons Florida than previously thought, but those numbers remain preliminary. Once the actual rates are released, Miller continues, Planned Parenthood volunteers will be able to give Floridians a more specific overview of the system. The marketplace's open enrollment period for 2014 runs from Oct. 1 through March 31; groups will be rushing to help as many residents as possible during that six-month winOf course, till next Tuesday, some of those dow. questions are unanswerable. The federal government released a report this week showing "It is definitely a sprint," says Stone, "but the that estimated insurance premiums available people that we're working with are up to the through the marketplace will be cheaper in challenge." %