South Florida's congressional Democrats reacted angrily today to the state Health Department's decision to bar the so-called Obamacare Navigators from assisting insurance seekers at county health departments.
The Navigators are outreach workers who have been trained to help people find their way through the insurance exchanges that will be opening on the first of October.
Palm Beach County Representative Ted Deutch said it's the third strike against Governor Rick Scott after the state decision to reject federal Medicaid expansion funds, and refusing to allow the state insurance commissioner to negotiate premium rates.
"It's another in a series of steps this governor has taken where his partisan interests seem to trump the health and wellbeing of Floridians", Deutch said.
Broward Congressman Debbie Wassermann Schultz called the Navigators decision "absolutely outrageous." And Lois Frankel, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, said it’s "a deliberate obstruction and not fair to Floridians."
The Democrats say Obamacare will not work unless enough people sign up for it and the decision to bar the Navigators from the health departments is aimed at causing it to fail.