Across Florida, millions of people rely on the individual health insurance marketplace to protect their health and their families’ futures. They include early retirees who don’t yet qualify for Medicare, self-employed entrepreneurs who power our economy and hardworking Floridians juggling multiple jobs to provide for their families. Enhanced premium support has enabled them to access preventive care, manage chronic conditions, and receive timely treatment for illnesses — all while keeping premiums low and costs affordable.
Florida leads the nation in enrollment through the individual marketplace, with 4.7 million Floridians, and nearly 430,000 Orange County residents, depending on this critical subsidy. But that coverage is in jeopardy. Unless Congress extends enhanced premium support before it expires at the end of this year, Floridians will face massive premium increases that could force many to give up their health insurance altogether.
If Congress allows this funding to lapse, premiums are projected to increase by an average of 93%. For families already stretched thin, such an increase is untenable. The likely outcome is that thousands may be forced to drop coverage altogether.
As health-care providers, we witness firsthand the consequences of lost coverage. Patients delay routine screenings and skip medications. Chronic diseases go unmanaged until they become crises. Emergency departments fill with preventable conditions that could have been treated earlier and at far less cost.
Extending enhanced premium support is not just a matter of compassion — it’s sound policy. It strengthens our workforce by keeping people healthy, bolsters economic stability by reducing uncompensated care costs, and helps millions of Americans stay covered. Failure to act would undermine the health and financial well-being of families across our state and nation.
Congress has a clear choice: extend the enhanced premium support and protect millions of Floridians from an avoidable coverage crisis, or allow these subsidies to expire and put affordable health care further out of reach.
For the health of our people, our communities, and our economy, Congress must extend this lifeline.
Randy Haffner is Group President and CEO of AdventHealth Florida and the board chair-elect of the Florida Hospital Association.