April 26, 2010

AIF Urges Lawmakers to Not Give Up on Medicaid Reform

TALLAHASSEE – Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) today released the findings of a statewide likely voter poll, conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, that revealed an overwhelming number of Floridians – 89 percent – want the cost of Medicaid controlled and 76 percent of Floridians support legislation that would coordinate and manage care to help eliminate fraud and abuse.

View Poll Results

“There are many issues that are of vital importance in the final week of session, and fixing Florida’s Medicaid system must be one of them,” said Barney Bishop III, President & CEO of AIF. “We urge lawmakers to not give up on the progress they have made in addressing the Medicaid crisis and return to the table to work on a plan that can deliver immediate cost savings, while delivering quality care to our most vulnerable Floridians.”

Florida’s Medicaid program currently covers more than three million Floridians at a cost of $18 billion, and if the Legislature and Governor do not act now, by 2014 there will be five million enrollees at the cost of $23 billion dollars or 32 percent of the state budget.

“These cost-saving reforms also help Florida employers who provide health insurance and other benefits to their employees,” added Bishop. “If these costs are not reined in, Florida companies will be forced to make tough decisions like decreasing their workforces or raising customer prices.”

Highlights of the AIF/McLaughlin & Associates poll include:

• 89 percent of Floridians want the cost of Medicaid controlled.
• 76 percent of Floridians support legislation that would manage care and eliminate fraud and abuse.
• 75 percent of Floridians support rewriting Medicaid to eliminate favors for special interests and focusing on coordinating care.

“In my decades of experience in politics and policy, I have found that good public policy is usually disliked by all special interests involved and crosses all party lines – all characteristics these plans seem to share,” concluded Bishop. “Again, we urge the Legislature to pass a bi-partisan plan that puts Florida on the track to right this fiscal crisis.”

The AIF/McLaughlin & Associates poll surveyed 600 likely general election voters in Florida and was conducted from April 24-25, 2010. All interviews were conducted via telephone by professional interviews. Interview selection was random within predetermined election units.

These units were structured to correlate with actual voter turnout. The survey has an accuracy of +/- 4 percent at the 95 percent confidence interval.