JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Gov. Rick Scott may not be accepting a salary for his job as governor, but he and other top state officials are catching a big break.
Out of 160 state legislators, 153 are enrolled in a plan that costs $8.34 a month for individual coverage and $30 a month for family coverage, according to the Florida Department of Management Services.
The DMS could not tell us which state lawmakers chose to enroll in the plan because of HIPAA laws.
The employer's portion of the premium, $1,213.34, is paid for through taxpayer dollars.
A deal that's "totally unfair" according to one First Coast family.
D.J. Huntley and her family live in Interlachen but are staying in Jacksonville at the Ronald McDonald House while her grandson, Josh, undergoes treatment for bone cancer.
They can't afford health insurance.
"A lot of health insurance companies, once they find out he's had cancer, they won't cover him," Huntley explained. "It's a high risk."
While her family struggles to pay for treatments, 11-year-old Josh is worried about his parents' financial situation.
"They're stressing and crying and if we can't pay it, they're going to have to always work and work and work," Josh said.
"It hurts," his mother Regina Carpenter said. "It hurts a lot. He's only 11 and he's not supposed to be worried about how we can pay for his health."
Scott, a multimillionaire, has been a critic of the federal health care overhaul.
Brian Burgess, a spokesperson for Gov. Scott, confirmed the governor and his wife are enrolled in the state health insurance plan. He said it does not contrast Scott's political stance against federal health care because the plan is under a private, for-profit company.
But the coverage provided by the employer is approximately 97% of the total, and is covered by taxpayer dollars.
"He's following the same plan Obama's doing," Huntley said.
Burgess noted that just like most companies offer insurance plans, this is a health insurance plan offered to the Governor and other legislators by their employer.
The average health plan costs an American family $13,770 in premiums per year.
Gov. Scott and others are paying less than $400 a year.
First Coast News