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Rubio Demands Defunding of Health Law

Four years after Russian efforts to sow division in the U.S., Rubio warned: "I’m not sure that we’re any less vulnerable than we once were."
AP
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The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

 In a further sign that the health-care law is a political football, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio says he won’t vote for a federal budget unless it removes all funds for the Affordable Care Act, as the Miami Herald reports. A Democrat who chairs the Senate budget committee retorted that failure to pass the budget would strip health care from 25 million Americans, presumably a reference to Medicare.

Meanwhile, Florida’s State Senate President Don Gaetz -- who is also a Republican -- sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking that the agency drop or modify its rules for states that want to make changes to Medicaid. As the Lakeland Ledger reports, the push for a special session of the Legislature to accept federal funds for Medicaid expansion has fizzled out.

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.