Rep. Garcia Should Focus on the Negative Impact of Obamacare on Floridians, not Election Results Come November
Rep. Garcia Should Focus on the Negative Impact of Obamacare on Floridians, not Election Results Come November
LIBRE responds to Joe Garcia on Politico
(Washington, D.C.) – Last night Congressman Joe Garcia (D-FL) provided a statement to the news outlet Politico in response to LIBRE's "Accountability Project" that pressures elected officials to explain why they support the health care law that is hurting hundreds of thousands of Floridians – particularly the Hispanic community. Congressman Garcia suggested that "come November" the many people who are disappointed with his support for the law may regret their criticism.
This is not an answer for the hundreds of thousands of Floridians whose plans are scheduled to be canceled later this year due to Obamacare. It is not a solution for a 42 percent increase in insurance rates in Florida's individual market this year – or for those who are already disappointed with new, narrow provider networks. Mr. Garcia is not addressing new Medicare rules that make it much harder for Florida seniors to deal with chronic pain. He offers no response for Florida's young people – who, because of high prohibitive rates, are signing up for Obamacare at a lower rate than the national average, likely leading to rate increases and potential instability in the exchanges going forward.
Daniel Garza, Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative released the following statement:
"Congressman Garcia's comments demonstrate a disappointing indifference to the mounting negative impacts of Obamacare and the pleas of the people of South Florida to reconsider his support for the law. His goal as a Representative shouldn't be to make sure his constituents are complying with a bad law that they oppose. It should be to make sure that they have health care and insurance coverage that respond to their needs. He has it exactly backwards.
It's also extremely revealing that his main focus is on the November election. We wish that he – like LIBRE – would focus on the needs of the community and the impact of this unfair law on business, seniors, youth and the general population – who through no fault of their own have lost coverage, access to their doctors and who are paying more for the same plans. We will continue to focus on how best to address the health care needs of the Hispanic community; we suggest Congressman Garcia do the same."
For interviews with a LIBRE representative, please contact: Judy Pino, 202-578-6424 or Brian Faughnan, 571-257-3309.