By TomFlanigan
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-957789.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – More than a hundred Florida nurses were visiting their lawmakers at the Capitol Tuesday. Tom Flanigan reports they're concerned about proposed changes to the state health care system that they say could cost thousands of jobs.
Governor Rick Scott says merging state human service agencies and revamping programs like Medicaid can save the state many millions of dollars. Florid Nurses Association lobbyist Anna Small says the hope is that the governor will work with the healthcare professionals who will have to carry that out.
"You know, there are certainly more and more people have trouble accessing care. A.R.N.Ps (Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners) there are almost 15,000 of us here in the state and we are ready and willing to serve as primary health care providers as long as we have the tools that make it able for us to do that."
The association's head labor negotiator Deborah Hogan says the biggest tool is simply having enough people to do the job, especially in the public health care sector.
"These are nurses and dentists and psychologists and nutritionists, and psychologists and nutritionists. So in the private sector we know we could make more money, but we're committed to caring for the people here."
That could be much tougher, she says, if public health care workers are driven away by cuts in pay and benefits, or see their jobs eliminated.