Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

State Senate Wants Your 2 Cents

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

Last week's organizational meeting of the Senate Select Committee on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was a bit rowdy, with anti-"ObamaCare" activists loudly insisting that the legislature "nullify" the federal law.

This week, the Senate unveiled a website in which constituents can register their opinions about the law in a quieter way. It also saves Floridians the burden of making the trip.

"The new tools on this website will ensure that citizens who cannot travel to Tallahassee are able to play a meaningful role in the process,” Senate President Don Gaetz said in apress release.

The web site offers a sign-up site to receive updates on the progress of the committee, set up to advise the Senate on how Florida should implement the PPACA (pee-packa).

The two major decisions Florida needs to make right away are whether to go along with a federally-funded expansion of Medicaid (voting "no" means forfeiting billions in federal funding) and whether to participate in setting up a health exchange, an online shopping site.

Carol Gentry, founder and special correspondent of Health News Florida, has four decades of experience covering health finance and policy, with an emphasis on consumer education and protection.