government shutdown<\/a> as Democrats insisted on extending the COVID-era assistance and most Republicans refused.<\/p>\nFast forward almost a year and lawmakers rarely reference the topic anymore. The administration says it is addressing affordability with fraud-busting efforts and deals with drug companies, but Congress hasn’t passed any significant legislation to lower health costs.<\/p>\n
In part due to its large number of construction, hospitality and small business workers \u2014 and also because its Republican-led legislature never expanded the Medicaid safety-net health program \u2014 Florida has the largest Affordable Care Act enrollment in the country. At just over 3.8 million enrollees, it represents about a fifth of the nation\u2019s total enrolled population.<\/p>\n
Of the roughly 443,000 Floridians who left the marketplace, most are likely going without insurance, according to Cynthia Cox, a vice president at the healthcare research nonprofit KFF. She said that\u2019s because it is typically a \u201cplace of last resort\u201d to get coverage.<\/p>\n
The data doesn\u2019t tell the stories of those who kept insurance. Tracy Rand, a licensed mental health counselor in Leesburg, Florida, is one of them. <\/p>\n
Ever since getting her ovaries removed last year due to benign but painful tumors, she has had severe menopause symptoms that require medication, including an overactive bladder and hot flashes that cause piercing headaches. <\/p>\n
She uses clear plastic containers to organize the more than 30 medicines and supplements she takes daily, their bottles crammed into a living-room drawer and a tray on her kitchen counter.<\/p>\n
The 51-year-old\u2019s Affordable Care Act plan was going to surge in price this year from $55 a month to $1,100 a month, so she downgraded. Her new plan, with higher deductibles and copays, costs $160 a month.<\/p>\n
To make that work in her budget, Rand quit a doctoral program she was working toward, started buying groceries at cheaper stores, gave up once-monthly dinners out with her husband and stopped meeting friends regularly at a paint-your-own pottery studio.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a difficult adjustment, but a necessary one for her health. <\/p>\n
Rand said the prospect of insurers raising rates again fills her with dread.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what else we can get rid of,\u201d she said, covering her face with her hands. \u201cI don\u2019t know if we\u2019re going to have to file bankruptcy.\u2033<\/p>\n
In Orlando’s leafy, brick-paved neighborhood of Colonialtown South, Tarsha Watson found her lifeline. A clinic there called Grace Medical Home provides low-income, uninsured Floridians with comprehensive care for a $5 per-visit fee.<\/p>\n
Watson, 54, has a master\u2019s degree in business administration, but she hasn\u2019t been able to find work since losing her job two years ago. That means she doesn’t have health insurance. When she explored Affordable Care Act coverage, she was quoted $600 per month, far out of her reach.<\/p>\n
At Grace, Watson learned her blood sugar is high and that she needed to lose weight. Now, she walks laps around her backyard pool and does Tai Chi YouTube tutorials to focus on fitness. She said she wishes everyone could have her experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s very hard out here,\u201d she said. \u201cIt’s not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the clinic, patients cycle in and out of a wide hallway lined with appointment rooms as doctors scan supply shelves for complimentary over-the-counter medications. The expansive building has separate areas for dental, mental health, vision and pediatric care.<\/p>\n
CEO Stephanie Garris said it\u2019s one of 110 free or charitable clinics in Florida, but that\u2019s not enough to handle demand. To treat more people in response to the Affordable Care Act changes, it recently started hosting a mobile acute care clinic for walk-in patients.<\/p>\n
Garris said Grace Medical Home treated about 1,350 people last year. Every year, they take about 350 new patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould I love to double that, triple that? Of course,\u201d Garris said. \u201cI just think in the reality, with the huge number of uninsured that we have, it\u2019s just not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
For U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, a Democrat defending his seat in a sprawling \u2014 and now much redder \u2014 redrawn district south of Orlando, health costs are a campaign focal point.<\/p>\n
He said his district, which is near various theme parks, had the second-largest Affordable Care Act enrollment in the nation, in part because many small tourism businesses can\u2019t offer employees health insurance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just hear it everywhere I go,\u201d he said. His Republican opponent, Navy veteran and former Trump administration official Dan Green, did not answer emailed questions about the subsidies but has emphasized affordability of groceries and property insurance as campaign priorities.<\/p>\n
Soto voted with Democrats and some Republicans \u2014 including a few from Florida \u2014 to save the subsidies last year. The Republican majority declined and suggested other ideas, including funding Americans’ health savings accounts. No law along those lines has passed yet.<\/p>\n
Button, a Democrat in Soto\u2019s district, said he is open to different reforms for health costs, but said politicians aren’t acting fast enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey keep trying to make excuse after excuse,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t have six months to a year to wait for you guys to pass this through the hoops that you need to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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