Congress must extend healthcare tax credits before it's too late

Time is running out for 4.7 million Floridians who depend on healthcare tax credits to afford their insurance premiums. While the credits don't expire until December 30, Congress faces a critical September 30 deadline that may represent the last opportunity to secure an extension before open enrollment begins November 1.

Without congressional action, 1.5 million Floridians will lose their health coverage by the end of the year - most of them hardworking families and small business owners who don't qualify for Medicaid but can't absorb premiums averaging 93% increases.

Florida leads the nation in marketplace enrollment, and this success is part of why our state ranks among the best in the country for business. Enhanced premium support helps small businesses attract workers and thrive by ensuring employees have affordable private insurance options.

Consider a middle-class family of four in North Florida earning $129,000 annually. While they may benefit from recently extended tax cuts, those savings will be completely erased by skyrocketing healthcare premiums, leaving them with a significant budget shortfall.

With 9 hospitals and more than 190 other sites of care in North Florida, we see how insurance coverage affects patients' ability to access timely, preventive care. Affordable private insurance keeps patients in primary care settings, keeps them out of emergency rooms for basic needs and strengthens hospitals by reducing uncompensated care.

The healthcare tax credits have proven essential for maintaining coverage among Florida's workforce - small business owners and restaurant workers whose jobs provide paychecks but not health benefits.

We urge Florida's congressional delegation to prioritize this extension in September funding negotiations. Florida families shouldn't have to choose between healthcare and housing, and communities shouldn't watch hospitals struggle as 1.5 million residents become uninsured.

Congress has the power to prevent this crisis by acting before September 30.

Floridians can contact their representatives through keepamericanscovered.org.