Happy Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated with family gatherings, special meals and sweet foods, which often symbolize good health throughout the new year.

For those who will be celebrating this evening, we would like to wish you a sweet celebration and an even sweeter new year.

PLEASE HELP SAYLOR WIN JR. BOAT CAPT!*

**PLEASE HELP SAYLOR WIN JR. BOAT CAPT!**

Please forward this message

We need your help in voting for our little girl, Saylor,

to become the Junior Boat Captain of the Winterfest Boat Parade!

Saylor is in 2^nd PLACE and we REALLY need YOU to vote Today, Tomorrow & Sunday
and then share with your entire Facebook Network!

Saylor and her family’s story is inspirational to all of us!

She really wants to be on the lead boat to represent CDTC!

The parade is actually taking place on her 8^th birthday! Let’s help make her birthday wish come true!

Vote for Saylor- she’s in 2nd place! Voting is now open for Winterfest Boat Parade Jr. Captain Nominees. Children's Diagnostic & Treatment Center needs your help for our very own little hero, Miss Saylor! Saylor is a determined seven year old who has surpassed so many expectations; she was born with Spina Bifida so severe that initially there was doubt she would ever be able to walk. Saylor has been receiving her medical care at Children’s Diagnostic & Treatment Center since she was one year old and we are thrilled to say she is walking with just the aid of a single crutch. Sometimes, she can even walk without it! Everyone at CDTC is very proud of Saylor which is why we need your help in for voting for her for Junior Captain of the Winterfest Boat Parade. Voting takes place on Facebook. You can vote once a day, until  Sunday, September 14th. Voting is easy! CLICK HERE First, "Like" the Winterfest Boat Parade Page then click VOTE on Saylor's Page to vote for Saylor.  Don't forget to share with your friends! *If you are voting on your mobile phone you will be asked to "Like" the Winterfest Boat Parade Page then "Like" the Offerpop Page (they're hosting the contest!) before you are able to vote for Saylor.  www.childrensdiagnostic.org Stay informed. Like us on Facebook!

President Bill Clinton Rally For Charlie Crist In Miami

  By Carol Porter

Former President Bill Clinton was in Miami on Friday, September 5, to stump for Gubernatorial Candidate Charlie Crist, who is running for Florida Governor against incumbent Rick Scott. Crist is a former Republican turned Democrat, and he won the primary election in August. The event was held at the JW Marriott Marquis in Miami, and between 350 to 400 people were in attendance. Also speaking for Crist were Lieutenant Governor Candidate Annette Taddeo-Goldstein and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson.

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Florida Health Choices has found only about 30 customers

Nearly six months after going online, and six years after the state's GOP leaders conceived it as a "free-market" response to calls for federal health reform, Florida Health Choices has found only about 30 customers, according to its Chief Executive Officer Rose Naff. Florida's alternative to Obamacare has 30 customers Nearly six months after going online, and six years after the state's GOP leaders conceived it as a "free-market" response to calls for federal health reform, Florida Health Choices has found only about 30 customers, according to its Chief Executive Officer Rose Naff.

It’s generally pretty tough to defend the health care system in Florida, though this report from theTampa Bay Times actually makes it look a little worse.

Last year, legislators allocated $900,000 to help Floridians find affordable health care through a new state-backed website.

 

At the same time, they refused to expand Medicaid or work with the federal government to offer subsidized insurance plans.

 

Six months after the launch of the state’s effort, called Florida Health Choices, just 30 people have signed up.

That’s not a typo. We’re not talking about 30% of the population; we’re talking about literally just 30 individuals.

 

Charles Gaba crunched the numbers to find the costs per enrollee and found that Florida Health Choices is vastly more expensive than, say, the Affordable Care Act’s healthcare.gov, while offering much less.

 

Indeed, Florida Health Choices is not an exchange marketplace, where private insurers compete for consumers’ business. It’s not. In fact, it doesn’t sell actual health insurance at all. Rather, Florida spent $900,000 on an online project that lists “limited benefit options and discount plans for items like dental visits, prescription drugs and eyeglasses.”

 

And a whopping 30 people took advantage of these amazing opportunities.

 

Florida Health Choices administrators “acknowledge they are off to a slow start,” but still hope to appeal to more customers, possibly by adding insurance options for pets.

 

Whose bright idea was Florida Health Choices in the first place? That would be Marco Rubio.

 

As a U.S. senator, the Florida Republican has had very little success in sponsoring legislation that became law, but let’s not forget that before going to Capitol Hill, Rubio was the Speaker of the Florida House. In 2008, two years before his successful Senate campaign, the conservative lawmaker championed the Florida Health Choices project.

 

Of course, it’d be more of a feather in Rubio’s cap if the project was actually reaching a large number of Floridians.

 

Asked if the senator still supports the concept of Florida Health Choices in light of its poor results, Rubio’s office told Dylan Scott, “Yeah, we have nothing against free market exchanges,” Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said in an email.

 

But if Rubio’s vision was for a website in which Florida consumers could purchase health care benefits, and Republicans continue to support such an approach, why doesn’t Florida simply create an exchange marketplace through the Affordable Care Act, as many other states have done?

 

Apparently, the GOP-led state government just doesn’t want to. As a consequence, nearly 1 million Floridians went to healthcare.gov to get actual, subsidized health care coverage, largely ignoring Florida Health Choices’ discount plans for items like dental visits.

 

Florida still has the option of creating its own exchange marketplace and embracing Medicaid expansion, which would extend coverage to nearly 764,000 low-income residents. But no one seems to think that’s likely.

Amendment 2 on Medical Marijuana Gets More Support

Amendment 2, a proposed state constitutional amendment expanding the use of medical marijuana in Florida, continues to draw supporters and opponents as the Sunshine State heads into the general election. 

The proposal has won the support of  Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of more than 150,000 supporters across the nation. LEAP came out strongly behind Amendment 2 and pushed back against criticism of the proposal from the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA). 

“Voters deserve to know that many of us in law enforcement do not wish to stand between them and their doctors when it comes to marijuana,” said Neill Franklin, the executive director of LEAP,  Franklin served 34 years in law enforcement in Maryland, rising to the rank of major and working for the state police and the Baltimore Police Department.

“It is a waste of taxpayer dollars to make suffering people risk arrest, a criminal record, physical danger and even poisoning on the illicit market,” Franklin said. “Like any other medicine their doctors recommend, they should be able to obtain quality medical marijuana in a safe, lawful marketplace where the proceeds are not going to benefit criminal gangs and drug cartels.” 

Noting some media reports have hit the FSA for going overboard in attacking Amendment 2, Franklin said his group would fight their claims. 

“As these newspapers point out, the sheriffs’ fear-mongering claims are nonsense: repeated studies over many years in states that permit medicinal marijuana have found no evidence of increased teen usage, no increase in crime -- and an actual reduction in the number of traffic fatalities,” said Franklin. “In the face of a desperate fear campaign, LEAP’s members will continue to serve the people of Florida as a ‘truth squad’ that will respond to the wild misstatements and distortions about Amendment 2.”