Florida residents who overwhelmingly voted to hand President Donald Trump a 14-point victory are now expressing dismay that the administration's elimination of Affordable Care Act subsidies will cause their health insurance premiums to skyrocket.
As many as a third of Florida's 4.7 million residents on ACA plans—the highest enrollment of any state—could lose coverage in 2026 when the subsidies expire, a fact that has come as a complete shock to voters who spent the last several election cycles enthusiastically supporting candidates who promised to dismantle the program.
Françoise Cham, 63, a self-employed Miami-area resident, now hopes she can afford coverage until Medicare kicks in at 65, presumably having forgotten her repeated Facebook posts declaring "Obamacare is socialism" between 2010 and 2024.
Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a reliable MAGA stalwart, complained that premiums would double for her constituents and her own adult children, apparently under the impression that "government handouts" only referred to other people's healthcare.
Florida has especially high demand for ACA coverage due to its large population of low-wage service workers, gig economy participants, self-employed individuals, and early retirees not yet eligible for Medicare—demographics that voted overwhelmingly Republican while demanding the government stay out of their government-funded healthcare.
Idaho residents have already seen net premiums jump 75 percent after the state's marketplace opened without federal subsidies, offering a helpful preview to Florida voters of the "winning" they were promised.
Some 18.2 million Americans in red states receive ACA subsidies compared to just 5.8 million in blue states, with 76 percent of subsidy recipients living in areas Trump won. Political analysts note this is a textbook example of "finding out" following an extended period of "fucking around."
When asked about potentially losing coverage, Miami housekeeper Lorraine Avila, 46, said the prospect "terrifies her"—a completely rational response to consequences of her own electoral choices.
