Despite the state\u2019s rightward shift, Florida leads the nation for Obamacare enrollment<\/a> with more people relying on this coverage than anywhere else in the country. One factor behind that is Florida\u2019s tourism and service-based economy where many workers don\u2019t have access to insurance through their jobs, Freedman said.<\/p>\n As a result, Floridians \u2014 from restaurant employees to gig workers to the self-employed \u2014 have turned to a plan long derided by the GOP to get health insurance.<\/p>\n In 2021, former President Joe Biden signed legislation making Obamacare subsidies even more generous and, for the first time, offering discounts to people earning more than four times the poverty level \u2014 about $62,600 for an individual.<\/p>\n With those changes, Obamacare enrollment soared in Florida from 1.9 million in 2020 to 4.7 million in 2025.<\/p>\n Those additional subsidies are now at the center of a Washington, D.C. standoff<\/a> with Democrats pushing for them to be extended as part of a deal to reopen the government. It would cost about $23 billion to extend the subsidies for a year and $350 billion to extend them over the next decade, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.<\/p>\n Long critical of Obamacare, many Republicans are pushing for a conservative overhaul of the 2010 law if not an outright repeal. But they haven\u2019t coalesced around a detailed plan. Some conservatives argue extending the subsidies will drive health care costs even higher in the long run. Others, such as \u00a0Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, have said they support extending the subsidies or coming up with a different plan to prevent dramatic price spikes.<\/p>\n Health care is shaping up to be a dominant issue in next year\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n But State Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, said she is worried about what the immediate fallout will be for families.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are about to get the shock of their lives when they open their premium notice,\u201d she said. \u201cWorking families in Florida are at the end of their rope. They don\u2019t have any room in their budget. This is going to be a real problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Both outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and gubernatorial front-runner U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds have said they think younger people could get by with bare-bones plans that provide coverage only for catastrophic costs instead of more expensive comprehensive coverage.<\/p>\n DeSantis put blame on federal policy that he says has created a \u201cmedical industrial complex,\u201d where patients are disconnected from the cost of health care billed to insurers.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people, particularly under 50, what they really need is a catastrophic plan that\u2019s affordable, where then they can pay whatever they\u2019re doing out of a health savings account,\u201d he said during a discussion at Stanford University\u2019s Hoover Institution<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n Food banks are preparing for a surge as federal food aid could be paused in the government shutdown<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"Nathan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/tos-l-Nathan-Sharp-CROP.jpg\")
Nathan Sharp, 49, of Crystal River, is concerned he may have to go without health insurance because of rising Obamacare costs. (Courtesy Nathan Sharp)<\/p>\n\n