Ted Deutch: “The Affordable Care Act is working in Florida for a very simple reason: no one wants to be uninsured. People want…”

“The Affordable Care Act is working in Florida for a very simple reason: no one wants to be uninsured. People want affordable health insurance. Florida enrolled more people in health insurance coverage than any other State using healthcare.gov. This only illustrates just how high a demand there is for affordable coverage in our State. During the first open enrollment period, some 983,000 Floridians signed up. More than 90 percent were eligible for some type of financial assistance under the law, which drove premiums down to an average of $79 a month in Florida. In the span of a few months, our State's uninsured rate dropped from 25 percent to under 20 percent. I am confident that when open enrollment begins this fall, even more Floridians will take advantage of the opportunity to get covered. Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, there are 1.06 million Floridians who won't have that opportunity. They don't make enough money to qualify for help buying private insurance in the marketplace, and they have been denied the Medicaid coverage that they are eligible for by Governor Rick Scott and by our GOP State legislature. Health care reform was designed to help more Americans afford private health insurance and provide basic coverage for low-income people through Medicaid. To do so, the law extended eligibility for Medicaid to people earning up to 138 percent of the Federal poverty level.…”