The conservative political group Americans for Prosperity is taking aim at Senate President Andy Gardiner’s Medicaid expansion plans.
The mailers were sent to voters in the districts of 23 state senators, including Senate President Andy Gardiner. Officials from Americans for Prosperity said in a statement the current plan doesn’t do enough to curb health care costs.
The group, backed by the Koch brothers, wants to expand telemedicine, eliminate government oversight of health care and allow some health care workers to do more.
Democrat U.S. Representative Alan Grayson came to Republican Gardiner’s defense.
“Americans for Prosperity is showing they’re just as slimy and nasty toward Republicans like Andy Gardiner who support Medicaid expansion in Florida as they are slimy and nasty toward me and the Democrats,” Grayson said. “It is an exercise in propaganda and deception on a mass scale.”
For his part, Gardiner says his plan is a consumer-drive approach that will provide access to high-quality care.
Gardiner, who works at Orlando Health, isn’t running for reelection.
Abe Aboraya is a reporter with WMFE in Orlando. WMFE is a partner with Health News Florida, which receives support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
