- May 2, 2024
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Flagler Beach resident Lori Giliberti knows what it’s like to pay for medications out of pocket, and she knows what it’s like to choose between medicine and food.
But she doesn't think Republicans opposing the Affordable Care Act do, she said at a Tuesday afternoon rally for the Affordable Care Act outside the Flagler County Health Department.
“They don’t care about the poor people in this country who can’t fend for themselves,” she said. “What the Republicans are doing, it’s disgusting.”
Giliberti and about 15 other people showed up with signs supporting the Affordable Care Act outside the county health department in Bunnell on Tuesday, the first day of open enrollment.
Giliberti, who found herself out of a job and unable to find insurance in 1993 when chronic health conditions left her unable to work, said she knows how critical a little government assistance can be.
Without the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income she collects, Giliberti said, she’d have to go hungry to afford her medicine and health care costs.
Giliberti came to the rally with her friend Barbara Mullen, a Palm Coast resident and member of the Flagler County Democratic Party.
“I do have health insurance myself, but not everyone does,” Mullen said.
Mullen said the Affordable Care Act is critical for the poor and people with preexisting conditions.
“It’s an idea whose time has come. I don’t understand how anyone could be against it,” she said.
Republicans leaders who oppose the law have said the individual mandate requiring people to secure coverage in 2014 or pay a penalty violates individual freedoms, and that the requirement that insurance companies offer coverage to people with preexisting conditions at the same rates as healthy people will drive insurance rates up across the board.
U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, whose coverage area includes Flagler County, filed an amendment to the Continuing Resolution to bar the Obama administration from issuing subsidies to congressional staff for use in the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
DeSantis, a conservative with tea party support, has pushed to defund the Affordable Care Act, posting statements on his website saying the act will hurt the economy and has already caused workers to lose health care coverage offered through their employers.
His amendment, called the James Madison Congressional Accountability Act, passed with the Continuing Resolution Sept. 30. It is a companion to Louisiana Sen. David Vitter’s No Washington Exemption from ObamaCare amendment.
“It is a simple issue of fairness: Members of Congress, their staff, and the political elite should not be given special relief from the harmful effects of ObamaCare while the rest of America is left holding the bag,” he said in a statement.
At the rally Tuesday, Ralph Lightfoot, a Palm Coast resident and retired IBM information technology manager, said he was concerned about companies using the Affordable Care Act to cut back on policies offered through the workplace.
But he said Republicans opposed to the act should be talking about tweaking it, not about defunding it or overturning it.
“It is a law, not a bill,” he said. “The Supreme Court upheld it. Why can’t they live with the results?”
Lightfoot said the act’s Republican opponents were willing to provide handouts to large companies, but not to individual people who need help.
“They’re afraid helping poor people is bad for the economy, which I think is a travesty,” he said.
Merrill Shapiro, president of the Flagler County Democratic Club, said a country as rich as America should be able to take care of its poor.
“If we are to be exceptional, we have to take care of the least of us,” he said. “We have people who’ve had to declare bankruptcy because of medical bills. And in this great country, that’s wrong.”
BOX: Affordable Care Act quick facts:
Here are some quick facts about the Affordable Care Act, paraphrased from the healthcare.gov website:
*Health care exchanges for the Affordable Care Act opened Tuesday, Oct. 1, and will remain open until through March 31. Most people must have coverage in 2014 or pay a fee: $95 per adult, $47.50 per child or 1% of income, whichever is higher. Some people might qualify for a fee exemption.
*Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance plans can't refuse to cover people who have a pre-existing medical condition, or charge sick people higher rates than healthy people. They also can't refuse to cover treatments for pre-existing conditions. Many preventive services, like routine checkups, must be covered with no out-of-pocket cost to the patient.
*All insurance plans offered through the marketplace must cover emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, outpatient care, mental health and substance use disorder services, prescriptions, laboratory services, pediatric services, rehabilitative services and devices, chronic disease management and preventive and wellness services.
*People eligible for insurance through their employer could switch to a marketplace plan, but they wouldn't qualify for lower costs based on income unless the job-based insurance is unaffordable or doesn't meet Affordable Care Act requirements.
*Floridians can apply for health care through www.healthcare.gov. To learn more, call 1-800-318-2596. The line is open 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Floridians who would like help applying can visit one of the locations listed at https://localhelp.healthcare.gov.
