Florida is in the midst of a revenue crisis. The Legislature is currently in the process of crafting the 2009-10 State budget, but with less revenue than was available 5 years ago.

However, over the next two years, Florida stands to receive $5 billion extra in federal Medicaid funding through the stimulus legislation passed by Congress. Florida, especially vulnerable Medicaid recipients, desperately need this stimulus funding, as those funds are our only hope of preserving some semblance of a Medicaid safety net.

Yet some House leaders continue to indicate that they may want to reject that funding! (Governor Crist has taken steps to start drawing down the money, but those funds can't be used unless the Legislature approves.)

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Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to urge you to vote that Florida approve the federal stimulus money that Governor Crist has already begun to drawn down.

Even if we do take the Medicaid stimulus funding, Florida faces a $2 to $3 billion shortfall for 2009-10. Turning down the stimulus money would guarantee that tens of thousands of the lowest-income children, seniors and people with disabilities would lose critical services or access to care altogether. Some of these hypothetical scenarios have already been presented to legislators. They're referred to as "horror stories" for good reason.

Stimulus funds are "matching dollars" from the federal government. In fact, for every State dollar we invest in the Medicaid budget, we lose more than 2 dollars of federal funding! So if we turn away the stimulus funding, we lose much more than we gain. Using the stimulus funds will help alleviate our overall budget crisis.

It has been argued that using the funds to save Medicaid now may mean we have to make even deeper Medicaid cuts later. That concern does have some merit- but only if we use the extra federal Medicaid funding inappropriately.

This funding must not be used as a slush fund. We should use the amount we need to sustain the Medicaid-funded programs and services we currently have.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
March 25, 2009