Health care coverage gaps to hit local hospitals

ORLANDO, Fla. -

In just months, tens of thousands of central Floridians will lose their health care coverage. They fall into a gap -- uncovered by Medicaid and making too much for significant stipends afforded by the Affordable Care Act.

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"God forbid I get some kind of illness or whatever that I wont be able to get the health care that I need, said 31-year-old Charlene Caines.

Cainescan't get health care coverage. She works and goes to school but falls into the "no coverage" gap.

"She's in the gap. She's too low to qualify for subsidy through the market place or too high and doesn't qualify for the current Medicaid programs,"said Larri Thatcher, of Orange County Legal Aid Bar Association.

For example, a single parent with one child falls into the gap of no coverage if he or she makes between $5,436 a year to $15,730 a year.

More than 50,000 Orange County residents fall into this area.

"In the last month alone we have seen 37 people that have come to legal aid for some other reason, but while here have told us they do not currently have health care coverage,"Thatcher said.

Without Medicaid expansion, 1 million Floridians will continue to go without coverage.

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Health care coverage gaps to hit local hospitals

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