PANAMA CITY BEACH — The area got a double dose of Democrat Charlie Crist on Saturday as he made his rounds to visit local veterans and African American voters.
Crist first stopped by the Democratic Women’s Club of Bay County Headquarters to speak about issues important to 1.3 million veteran voters in Florida.
“I’m in a race for governor, and the man I’m running against is handing out a lot of medals, and that’s great,” Crist said. “But what I don’t think is great is he’s cut funding for homeless veterans.”
Republican Gov. Rick Scott took heat in 2011 for cutting $12 million from the state budget for homeless veterans and more recently for not fighting harder to expand Medicaid.
“They need to take a long, hard look at veterans’ benefits,” said former Chief Master Sgt. Don Summer, a Vietnam veteran who retired after 26 years in the Air Force.
Summer said the administration has a hard time taking care of older veterans because of how long it takes to get an appointment, be examined and document claims for submission to Veterans Affairs.
“Anything the state can do to assist vets with state benefits or Medicaid would help,” Summer said. “Not everyone is going to have a good job when they get out.”
Albert Mapp, a family practice physician in Panama City and Army reservist, agreed.
Mapp said veterans’ access to health care suffers because of how long it takes to get an appointment, and continuity takes a hit when doctors don’t have full access to medical records.
“Our veterans are older individuals with complex health problems,” he said. “For instance, if someone has a heart condition, it might take three or four months before they can get an appointment with a cardiologist, whereas I can get them to see one within a week. A lot of times, patients can’t wait.”
Crist said expanding Medicaid coverage would ease the burden and give 1 million more people access to health care, including 41,000 veterans who weren’t getting care previously. He also said the expansion would pump between $51 billion and $60 billion into the economy and create 120,000 jobs.
“That’s quite an infusion for our economy,” he said.
After winding down with veterans, Crist was whisked over to the Florida State Conference for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Panama City Beach, where he addressed other issues.
“It’s important to show up, number one,” Crist, a lifetime member of NAACP, said in an interview. “Being able to be with the veterans and the NAACP tonight is a real honor.”
Crist spoke about education, job creation, health care, the economy and other issues.
Burnett King of Pensacola, also a lifetime NAACP member, said the issues are not a matter of what is important to black people or white people.
“The big thing is restricting the vote,” King said. “I have to now fight the same old fight that I fought back in the ’60s, that I fought for my grandchildren,” he said.
He is upset with Scott for not expanding voting opportunities and revoking felons’ voting privileges.
King wants to see other changes, no matter who the next governor is.
“They had a great opportunity to put in a rail system and create jobs, and the current guy didn’t do it,” King said, referring to Scott.
“We don’t have a good justice system or opportunities for the poor,” King said.
With Election Day a little more than three weeks away, Crist is making his last push to win voters in Northwest Florida.
“It’s only 24 days until we’re Scott free,” Crist told the veterans group.