Florida Health Care Experts Discuss National Health Insurance Expansion Proposal

Two dozen Florida health care experts on Tuesday in Miami met to discuss a proposal from Deloitte Center for Health Solutions that seeks to expand health insurance to the 47 million uninsured U.S. residents, the Miami Herald reports. The proposal would establish a plan called Insurance-for-All, through which uninsured residents could pay about $94 monthly for health insurance with a $1,000 deductible and 20% copayments. The proposal would require about $25 billion in federal funds, and all employers that do not offer health insurance to employees would have to pay a payroll tax of 50 cents per hour per employee to help cover the cost. According to Daniella Levine, executive director of the Human Services Coalition of Dade County, the proposal is “the best I’ve seen for a solution that doesn’t involve a single-payer system.” However, she raised concerns that the proposal would not adequately address the issue of health care costs. Paul Keckley, executive director for the health solutions group at Deloitte, said that the proposal would reduce the $126 billion that federal, state and local programs pay annually to cover the cost of health care for uninsured residents. Andrew Agwunobi, secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, also raised concerns that some employers would shift to part-time or freelance employees to avoid the requirement that they provide health insurance for workers or pay the payroll tax (Dorschner, Miami Herald, 1/24).

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