Florida Congressmembers Sound the Alarm on Republicans’ Unfolding Healthcare Crisis

Washington, DC - Today, U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Darren Soto (FL-09), and Maxwell Frost (FL-10) shared how Florida residents face extreme impacts if Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits are allowed to expire. During a press conference this morning, the Democratic lawmakers stressed that it was urgent for Republicans to negotiate to lower healthcare costs, end the GOP shutdown, and avoid an unfolding insurance coverage crisis.

Watch the full press conference here.

Florida, as much as any state in the nation, faces one of the worst impacts if the ACA tax credits at the heart of the shutdown dispute are allowed to expire. Of the top 15 congressional districts with the highest number of ACA enrollees, 12 of them are in Florida. On a yearly basis the State of Florida leads the nation in sign-ups for the Affordable Care Act.

"If these credits expire, thousands of people we represent face double, triple or quadruple price hikes in their premiums," said Wasserman Schultz. "But you all know what that really means. Families will be forced to drop coverage. Chronic diseases will go undiagnosed. ERs will be flooded. People will needlessly die. Our communities will be ravaged. And it's not just ACA families who will be hit."

Government funding ran out on September 30th, and Republicans have plunged the nation into a healthcare crisis. Yet GOP leaders refuse to negotiate with Democrats to end a government shutdown and prevent hundreds of thousands of Americans from losing coverage and millions more from seeing costs skyrocket.