State Representative Jose Oliva’s Hialeah office was filled to the brim on June 19. It could barely contain the twenty-plus community members who came to express their strong displeasure with Oliva’s vote against healthcare expansion for 1.2 million hardworking Floridians during the 2013 legislative session that ended in May.



Oliva voted against a bipartisan plan supported by many of his colleagues in the Florida House of Representatives, all but one member of the Florida Senate, the governor, the healthcare industry, the business community and the majority of Floridians that would have accepted $51 billion of our federal tax dollars to provide healthcare to 1.2 million hardworking Floridians who cannot afford health insurance.



Both Republicans and Democrats gathered to meet with the Republican state representative after months of trying to get a meeting had escalated to a protest outside of the Oliva’s campaign fundraiser in Coral Gables on June 12.



Oliva's constituents told story after story about themselves and their family members who live in fear of getting sick without healthcare, but Oliva still refused to support a special session to accept Floridians’ federal tax dollars for healthcare. Funding that would help cover people in his community who cannot afford health insurance.



Constituents also spoke to Oliva about the adverse effects that his “no” vote will have on businesses in the community and the local economy.



Because Oliva continues to block healthcare expansion, many businesses across Florida who don’t provide healthcare to their employees will have to pay a $2,000 to $3,000 tax penalty for every one of their employees who would otherwise be covered under healthcare expansion.



That is projected to cost employers in Florida up to $219 million in 2014.



Oliva’s constituents also extended an invitation to participate in a bipartisan town hall so that all of his constituents could have the opportunity to speak to him about healthcare expansion. Oliva said he was open to the possibility.



Before leaving Oliva’s crowded office, his constituents left a parting message that they will remember how he turned his back on 1.2 million Floridians, including more than 230,000 people in Miami-Dade County, when all state representatives are up for re-election in 2014.