The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is on track to become unaffordable for millions of Floridians who rely on the health insurance coverage.
Federal tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year, and healthcare advocacy groups say thousands will be forced to drop their health insurance if Congress doesn’t extend the funding.
“Most people on ACA have not had insurance for a long time and I’m one of them,” said Francoise Cham.
Cham said she didn’t have health insurance for 25 years before the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, came along. She’s a single mother and self-employed.
Now she’s worried that she won’t be able to afford her health insurance anymore. Rates are expected to rise and premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year. Those currently lower her payments to about $80 a month.
“Being 63, I am in between. I got two more years to go for Medicare and as a woman of color, heart disease, anything can happen between now and two years,” said Cham.
Kaiser estimates 75% jump in premiums without credits
The Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy nonprofit, estimates that out-of-pocket premium payments will increase by roughly 75 percent without the tax credits.
“Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 2.2 million Floridians will be priced out of the marketplace, meaning our uninsured rate as a state will double actually up to 9 percent overall,” said Scott Darius.
Darius is the executive director of Florida Voices for Health. He said Florida has the highest ACA enrollment in the country, with 4.7 million people in 2025—that’s over 1 in 5 Floridians.
He said the changes could impact everyone’s health insurance rates.
“As insurance companies kind of game out what they’re charging folks, they’re calculating that there is this influx of people who don’t have care and quite frankly, because we’re talking about the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, there also tends to be unhealthier outcomes,” Darius said.
Cham hopes Congress will vote to extend the help.
“It’s a necessity, it’s not even a luxury,” Cham said.
Hospital leaders urge Congress to act
Other organizations, including the Florida Hospital Association, have spoken out. In an email to CBS Miami, President and CEO Mary Mayhew said:
“Today, more than 4.7 million Floridians have health insurance coverage because of the federal marketplace and the essential premium assistance. This innovative private health insurance model is the difference between timely access to health care and going without. The critical premium assistance through the federal marketplace is promoting employment and easing the financial burden of health insurance costs on Florida’s small businesses. The success of the marketplace cannot be ignored, and Congress must act to preserve and protect this private health insurance model that is so vital to ensuring timely access to health care services for millions of hardworking Floridians.”
Congress is still on recess. With open enrollment for health insurance beginning on November 1, Darius said they expect to have a better idea as that date gets closer.
