Photo by Nappy via Unsplash
By Rebecca Green | MediaLab@FAU
Oct 2, 2024
As Floridians follow an unpredictable presidential campaign whose main candidates are neck-and-neck just weeks before Election Day, many local voters say they are concerned about the issue that seems to get short shrift in most stump speeches: healthcare.
A recent Gallup poll found that two-thirds of Americans say healthcare has not received enough attention in the election cycle thus far.
When asked for his plan, former President Donald Trump said during the one and only presidential debate on Sept. 10 that he had “concepts of a plan” to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), passed during the Obama administration and in effect since 2010. Vice President Kamala Harris has seized on Trump’s mealy-mouthed answer and turned it into something of a meme, featuring it in her new ads and on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was,” Trump said on the debate stage with Harris, one he does not plan to return to before the Nov. 5 election. “It's not very good today and, what I said, if we come up with something, we are working on things, we're going to do it and we're going to replace it.” However, he provided no further details of what he would do to replace the program that he failed to get rid of during his presidency, and which currently serves more than 14 million Americans, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
For some in South Florida, Obamacare has kept them afloat amid rising healthcare costs.
“My son is diabetic and has mountains on top of mountains of medical bills and Obamacare helped pay the costs and get him the care that he needed,” said Molleen Morgan, 54, a massage therapist based in North Miami Beach.
In the past, she said, some insurers refused to take him on due to a diagnosis as common as diabetes. Even today, his health care is an ongoing concern and financial strain.
“People would deny him health insurance because of his pre-existing conditions. He is on dialysis fighting to get Medicare and waiting for his disability to get approved, but it is a struggle,” said Morgan. “I think it’s because of the fact that he’s 32 and I also think potentially because of race,” added Morgan, who is Black.
Until he gets approved because of his disability, she said, her daughter-in-law has to pay for her son’s insurance. “Without Obamacare, he would not have any health insurance.”
Morgan has struggled with her own health ever since she was a child, and has had many uphill battles with the healthcare system. She suffers from Immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) deficiency and Vasovagal Syncope, which causes fainting. Most of her health issues were only diagnosed in recent years. When she was younger, her health problems were neglected because she didn’t have health insurance.
Today, she is a mom of three and has multiple grandchildren.
“I do immunoglobulin infusion therapy, which is weekly injections to help build immunity. They did DNA testing to figure this out,” she said in an interview. “I have Medicare, but the insurance won’t pay for it because it is so expensive.”
She offered a frank assessment of her experience. “The healthcare system in America sucks,” she said. “If we had universal healthcare this would not be a problem.”
Morgan is concerned about things getting worse if Trump is elected, but also thinks that Harris should be speaking more clearly and forcefully about her plans to deal with healthcare costs and the burden it places on families like hers.
“I know his concepts and options are only going to benefit the 1%, because the government doesn’t care about the little people,” Morgan said. “My only concern is that Kamala hasn’t been so upfront with her policies and what she plans on doing.”
Harris has suggested that she would restructure healthcare into a single-payer system. She also proposes to build on provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act by making expanded ACA subsidies permanent. As for Trump, he proposed changes to the ACA that would weaken pre-existing protections and reduce funding substantially through a block grant to states.
Other south Floridians say they fear for their families’ overall well-being, and little they have heard so far puts their minds at ease.
“Sometimes I worry about being able to take care of my family as I have countless medical bills that only get higher the longer I wait to pay,” said Christopher McGreer, 45, who works in customer service. “I fear for not only my health but my children’s health because I can’t afford to pile on any more bills. It would be nice for one of the candidates to help reform healthcare as a whole, but the healthcare system in America is so messed up.”
Trump has said he’d “never give up” on repealing the ACA, often adding “Obamacare Sucks” and that he would replace it with “much better healthcare.” He also said he was not running on terminating the ACA and would rather make it “much better and far less money,” though has provided no specific plans.
Young voters say it would be great if candidates actually presented concrete healthcare reforms and proposed plans to reduce or eradicate onerous medical bills.
“I come from a low-income family with a single mother who was dealing with having two children and no child support help," said Shae Hinkle, 22, an FAU senior majoring in political science. “It makes it very difficult to afford and find stability, and I’ve watched her go through periods of not having insurance, me and my siblings have somehow been covered by insurance.”
Hinkle hopes it will be different for her generation.
“It was hard watching [my mother] suffer and not get the care and attention she needs, it takes a toll on the family. Families need to have access to healthcare and have it be affordable as well,” she said. “Otherwise, they lose out on income which buries people into a hole. And if they can’t go to the doctor for a problem, it could get worse and put them into more financial debt and they miss out on [paying] taxes. In turn, it ends up being bad for the population because they can’t pay off all their debt.”
Another FAU student said healthcare is one of her top priorities. That matches many national polls on the issue. The Pew Research Center found that for about 65 percent of registered voters, healthcare is a top issue, ranking just behind concerns about the economy.
“It would be great for healthcare to be more affordable,” said Jasmine Baharmast, a 21-year-old senior majoring in biological sciences. “We shouldn’t have to choose between affording our rent versus our health. Healthcare should always be accessible and affordable.”
