{"id":93584,"date":"2025-12-23T11:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/93584\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T11:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:47:10","slug":"with-aca-subsidies-set-to-expire-by-the-new-year-what-comes-next-for-floridians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/93584\/","title":{"rendered":"With ACA subsidies set to expire by the new year, what comes next for Floridians?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Floridians lead the nation in Obamacare enrollment at about 4.7 million enrollees.<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Millions of people, especially in Florida, are bracing for likely healthcare premiums beginning in the new year.<\/p>\n

Florida leads the nation in Affordable Care Act plans, the highest in the nation, at about 4.7 million enrollees, according to KFF<\/a>. Many are also reliant on healthcare subsidies, but those tax credits will expire by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

House Republicans have since unveiled their proposals. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said his plan aims to bring money back to the pockets of Americans and not insurers while lowering drug costs. However, critics worry what expiring subsidies will mean for families who’ve been able to save money and receive proper care.<\/p>\n

“Healthcare is a right and not a privilege,” said Karen Clay of Tampa.<\/p>\n

Clay, a health care advocate, collects stories for Florida Voices for Health<\/a> and said more families are getting worried about their ability to afford their health plans.<\/p>\n

“The subsidies are the only thing that enables them to afford healthcare at all,” Clay said.<\/p>\n

Recently, stories from parents cashing out of their 401k to provide for their child or a 19-year-old who no longer qualifies for health care are among those she’s come across recently.<\/p>\n

The result may lead to people paying at least thousands for more for their health care plans and those footing the bill will go beyond just patients, said Renzo Luzzatti, president of US-Rx Care, a fiduciary pharmacy benefit manager. Another direct impact could be cost and pressure for employers to keep costs down.<\/p>\n

“You’re talking about millions of people that are gonna be left in the lurch, which is not good for hospitals, is not good for doctors,” Luzzatti said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Popular protections may still remain including for pre-existing conditions or no lifetime caps, but with ongoing efforts to alter Obamacare, Luzzatti said questions remain on how lawmakers plan to replace critical parts of the ACA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Nobody seems to have an answer,” he said. “The best thing they could do is bring some of the funds back that were pulled that helps offset some of the highest risk within the environment for individuals that came into the pool that are unhealthy.”<\/p>\n

Senator Rick Scott said his plan, dubbed the “More Affordable Care Act,” aims to keep Obamacare but “change the system from one that enriches insurance companies to one that works for families.”<\/p>\n

In a Miami Herald op-ed<\/a>, Scott vows to keep protections for pre-existing conditions but said his plan aims to give families safety-net dollars through HSA-style accounts to pay for premiums and believes it would create more options for families to shop the best plan for them.<\/p>\n

“Floridians deserve solutions and a government that works for them. I\u2019m fighting every day to deliver that,” Scott stated.<\/p>\n

House Republicans have since unveiled their proposals which include to enhance access to employer-sponsored health insurance plans and clamp down on pharmacy benefit managers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Republicans propose expanding access to what\u2019s referred to as association health plans, which would allow more small businesses and self-employed individuals to band together and purchase health coverage.<\/p>\n

Proponents say such plans increase the leverage businesses have to negotiate a lower rate. But critics say the plans provide skimpier coverage than what is required under the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n

Four Republicans have since broke with Speaker Mike Johnson and signed onto a Democratic-led petition to force a House vote on extending subsidies for at least three more years. The vote could take place in January.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Floridians lead the nation in Obamacare enrollment at about 4.7 million enrollees. TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Millions of people,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-93584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}