News & Public Affairs
Healthcare advocates swarm House Speaker Will Weatherford's Wesley Chapel office: VIDEO listen
03/25/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Monday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Medicaid, healthcare, Will Weatherford, Affordable Care Act, Obamacare
This month, both chambers of the Florida legislature rejected expanding Medicaid under the federal healthcare law. On Saturday seventy-five activists crowded the small parking lot in front of Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford’s Wesley Chapel office. Activists marched almost a mile along a busy stretch of highway and demanded that Weatherford and other state lawmakers change their minds.
1 comments“I see so many children who need medical care whose parents cannot afford to take them anywhere ...
Former Florida Governor Bob Martinez says Medicaid expansion would be costly listen
03/15/13 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Friday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Centre Club, Bob Martinez, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act
Former Florida Governor Bob Martinez stayed in line with Republican talking points during a luncheon at the Centre Club in the Westshore District in Tampa today. The former Democratic Tampa mayor turned Republican touched on everything from transit to healthcare in front of about 40 local business leaders.
According to Martinez, he was a Democrat for 27 years – he calls it his minority period – but for the last 30 years he has been a Republican. And like most Republicans he said he doe...
Be the first to commentTampa Bay Partnership group gives state legislators some economic development advice listen
05/08/12 Janelle IrwinWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Florida Legislature, Tampa Bay Partnership, healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare, transit, transportation, light rail
During a meeting at the Tampa Bay Times Forum today, State legislators representing the region were given a list of issues members of the Tampa Bay Partnership thought should be made priorities. With Pinellas County considering a sales tax referendum for transit improvements, one group of business professionals told the 26 elected officials to ignore the “No Tax for Tracks” campaigns. Barry Alpert, managing investment director for Raymond James, said 40 years ago he could tell potential profe...
Be the first to commentProtesters criticize Rick Perry's Social Security proposal outside pricey St. Pete Beach fundraiser listen
10/26/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Rick Perry, st. pete beach, Social Security, Social Security Administration, Medicare for all, Medicaid
Top GOP contenders are trying to get attention from Republican voters in the Sunshine State ahead the primary. And though he may have recently slid drastically in the pools, Texas governor Rick Perry is no different. Perry was in St. Pete Beach for a thousand-dollar-a-plate fundraiser, and so were a few protesters.
Texas governor Rick Perry now is polling at just six percent of the GOP vote. While cable news commentators debate whether he’s still relevant, critics of his platform are seizi...
Be the first to commentImmigrant children may be less likely to get Florida KidCare under new rules listen
10/18/11 Josh HoltonWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: health care, child care, Children's issues, healthcare, Health, Medicaid, KidCare
A recent federal law is helping more undocumented immigrant children get access to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. When the CHIP Reauthorization Act renewed the program in 2009, 20 states did away with a rule that required immigrant children to wait 5 years after entering the US before they would be eligible for KidCare.
[Flori...
Be the first to commentMike Fasano addresses elder issues in Dunedin listen
08/03/11 Sarah CurranWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Mike Fasano, elder issues, senior citizens, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare
Almost half-a-million senior citizens live in Pasco and Pinellas Counties. And many are finding a tough state budget mostly ignores their needs and services. State Senator Mike Fasano addressed the concerns and needs of the elderly this morning at a public meeting in Dunedin.
“Im alone, a widow. I don’t have anyone to help me…I don’t have much.”
Margret Hampson is one of the more than 400-thousand senior citizens living in the area. They ar...
Be the first to commentConsumer advocates urge feds to deny statewide Medicaid privatization listen
07/19/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Tuesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Medicaid, Florida CHAIN, Agency for Health Care Administration, health care
Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, or AHCA, has less than two weeks to apply for a waiver that would let it privatize health care for all low income Floridians. Some consumer Advocates are outraged at the new system.
That’s Laura Goodhue, Executive Director of Florida Community Health Action Information Network, or CHAIN. That group was one of more than one hundred organizations that signed a letter to the federal government urging them to deny the Medicaid waiver. Since Medi...
Be the first to commentAHCA hears Medicare privatization concerns listen
06/16/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Friday
Tags: Medicaid, AHCA, privatization
Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, or AHCA, has been holding hearings throughout the state this week to get public input on the statewide privatization of Medicaid. Today in Tampa, dozens packed an auditorium near USF to weigh in on the changes, which would place Medicaid patients on managed care plans. Speaker Adrian Langford has been working with Medicaid patients for years. He said moving them onto HMOS without giving the state a way to negotiate lower premiums will only hurt...
Be the first to commentConsumer health care advocate decries proposed Medicaid changes listen
06/15/11 Kate BradshawWMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Medicaid, Joe Negron, Rick Scott, health care reform
As you just heard, this week, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration is holding hearings throughout the state to get public input on sweeping changes to the state’s Medicaid program. Hearings have attracted hundreds in places like Jacksonville and Palm Beach, and there was reportedly a standing room only crowd at one in Largo today. Ahead of tomorrow’s Tampa hearing, we spoke with Laura Goodhue, Executive Director of Florida Community Health Action Information Network, or CHAIN. She ...
Be the first to commentImpact Of Governor Scott's Budget On Low And Middle Income Floridians
02/09/11 Robert LoreiRadioactivity: Live Call-In (Wednesday) Listen to this entire show:
Tags: Alan Stonecipher, Rick Scott, state budget, low and middle income people, education funding, Medicaid, child care, poverty
Good morning welcome to Radioactivity. I'm Rob Lorei. The St. Petersburg Times reported this morning:
6 comments"Gov. Rick Scott’s bold budget plan wasn’t even 24 hours old Tuesday before state legislators started ripping it apart and leveling a familiar charge against the governor: He wasn’t forthcoming with details.
"Whether it was his billions in cuts to Medicaid or to schools, legislators said they weren’t sure what Scott specifically wanted to do in his budget, which would further widen...
