Gillum: Medicare for All Won’t Work in Florida Alone, We’d Need ‘Confederation of States’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Cuomo Primetime,” Tallahassee Mayor and Florida Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum said that for Florida to do a Medicare for all system, “we would have to do it as a confederation of states. We could not do it by ourselves solely here in the state of Florida.”

Gillum stated, “Well, the budget deficit in this state is going to be largely driven by the great big tax giveaways that Republicans have pursued nearly every legislative session that I can remember. We know that the fastest growing part of the state’s budget is its healthcare costs. We also know that this governor failed to expand Medicaid for over 700,000 of the most medically needy people in this state, leaving $6 billion alone last year on the table, money that could have come from the federal government to help prop up that system, while here in the state of Florida we have a nursing shortage. … I think largely because we have failed to step up to that task.”

He added, “I think for Florida to move in that direction, we would have to do it as a confederation of states. We could not do it by ourselves solely here in the state of Florida. Because it would collapse the system. We would only attract the sickest of patients and it wouldn’t work. But could you imagine if we could team up with the states of New York, California, Florida, maybe even Texas even, Illinois, and other progressive-thinking states and bargain on behalf of the citizens?”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett