Hispanics In Florida Consider Medicaid Expansion One Of The Most Important Issues In The 2014 Midterm Elections

Medicaid Expansion Has Become An Important Electoral Issue For Hispanic Voters. According to an October 10 poll by the political opinion research firm Latino Decisions, an overwhelming majority of Hispanic voters in Florida would support a candidate who favored Medicaid expansion (emphasis added):

One of the most important policy issues reported in the survey was health care and the topic of Medicaid expansion. Overall, 66% of Latino voters in Florida said they would vote for a candidate who supported Medicaid expansion, while 17% said they would back the candidate who opposes Medicaid expansion. When asked if Florida should accept federal monies to pay for 90% of the program costs of Medicaid expansion, 78% of Latino voters said yes, compared to just 10% who were opposed. Finally, respondents were asked if the Governor of Florida should use executive authority to expand Medicaid if the state legislature fails to do so and 69% of Latinos agreed. [Latino Decisions, 10/10/14]

Miami Herald And El Nuevo Herald Rarely Mention The Hispanic Community In Medicaid Expansion Coverage

Miami Herald And El Nuevo Herald Provided Minimal Coverage Of Medicaid Expansion's Effect On Hispanic Community. According to a Media Matters analysis, El Nuevo Herald published 8 news articles on Medicaid expansion since the end of the last congressional session on August 12, with only 3 of those pieces mentioning its effect on the Hispanic community. The Miami Herald published 20 news articles on Medicaid expansion during the same period, but only 4 of those pieces mentioned the issue's importance to the Hispanic community.

Medicaid Expansion Vital To Health Of Florida's Hispanic Community

Kaiser Family Foundation: 20 Percent Of Hispanics In Insurance Coverage Gap Reside In Florida. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that non-elderly adult Hispanics are the most-likely segment of the population to be uninsured nationwide and are disproportionately likely to fall into a so-called “coverage gap” created by their state's refusal to accept Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Approximately 8.1 million Hispanic adults, one-third of their population, lack adequate health insurance coverage, and nearly 4.1 million live at or below the level of family income required to become eligible for Medicaid expansion. One million uninsured Hispanics fall into the nationwide coverage gap, and one in five live in Florida. [Kaiser Family Foundation, 12/17/13]

Kaiser Family Foundation: Hispanics In Florida Are Less Likely To Report Being In Good Health. In a review of Florida's health care landscape, the Kaiser Family Foundation highlighted that in 2012, 43 percent of non-elderly Hispanic adults had no health care provider and that “white adults, including the elderly population, reported being in good health more frequently than Black and Hispanic adults.” The report noted that in 2010, according to the foundation's data, “the prevalence rate of adults self-reporting current asthma” was higher for Hispanic Floridians (9.9 percent) when compared to the national average of 7.2 percent. [Kaiser Family Foundation, 11/12/2013]

NCLR: Failure To Expand Medicaid In Florida Increases Health Disparities For Hispanics. An issue brief authored by the National Council of La Raza found that Florida's failure to expand Medicaid could worsen health disparities for Hispanics since Hispanics are more likely to suffer from diseases like diabetes, kidney disease and HIV/AIDS, all of which require routine health care. [NCLR, 4/16/14]

Methodology

Media Matters searched for news articles on Medicaid expansion from Florida's highest circulating paper in English, The Miami Herald and in Spanish, El Nuevo Herald, from August 12, 2014 (the day after the last Florida congressional session), until October 27, 2014, using the term “Medicaid AND Expan!” to find any mention of Medicaid expansion in the two newspapers.