St. Petersburg Times
March 20, 2002
By Anita Kumar
Rep. Frank Farkas scored a victory Tuesday when the House passed his controversial health insurance bill.
Farkas agreed to… increase coverage to $25,000 annually…
Farkas… said other aspects of the insurance plan would lower the cost, such as flexible deductibles, co-pays and other treatments and procedures not mandated by law but often covered by insurance companies.
The amended bill passed 113-2.
Rep. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood:
“A bare-bones policy has been given meat. It is a great step forward.”
Comment: One technical criticism of the movie, “John Q,” was that a $20,000 cap on John Q’s coverage was almost non-existent; virtually all policies have much higher levels of coverage. Now we have a bipartisan, 113 to 2 vote that says that John Q’s fictional bare-bones policy is “a great step forward.”
What has happened to the soul of America?