Op-Ed: Michael Carbonara: Because of Democrats, Florida families pay more for health insurance than their mortgage

As I travel across Florida meeting voters, healthcare costs are among the most common concerns I hear. Parents tell me their premiums keep rising. Small-business owners talk about the challenge of providing coverage for employees. Retirees describe watching more of their fixed incomes disappear into insurance payments and out-of-pocket costs.

For many Florida families, health insurance now rivals or exceeds their monthly mortgage payment. Families are paying more, deductibles continue to climb, and many people feel they have fewer options than they did a decade ago.

That is the legacy of the healthcare system Democrats built.

Americans were promised that Obamacare would lower costs and increase competition. Instead, healthcare became more expensive for millions of families while government spending exploded. The largest winners were the major insurance companies that sit at the center of the system.

While Floridians struggled with rising premiums and deductibles, many of the nation’s largest insurers reported billions of dollars in profits. Democrats continue to present themselves as opponents of corporate power, yet their healthcare agenda has directed enormous amounts of taxpayer money into a system dominated by large insurance companies.

As a businessman, I have spent my career creating jobs and managing budgets. I am not a career politician. Common sense tells me taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize billion-dollar insurance companies while those same companies continue raising costs on working families.

The relationship between Washington politicians and the insurance industry has produced exactly the results most Americans would expect. Families pay more, taxpayers spend more, and powerful interests continue to benefit from a system that grows larger and more expensive every year.

Floridians saw another example of D.C’s misplaced priorities during last year’s Schumer shutdown fight. Chuck Schumer and the Democrats shut down the government over their demand that taxpayers keep funding Biden’s “COVID bonuses” that were part of Obamacare. And who received the COVID bonuses? Big insurance companies, of course. 

Congress should be focused on lowering costs.

When elected, I will support policies that expand choice and competition in healthcare. Patients should have more control over their healthcare decisions and more options when purchasing coverage. Competition has lowered prices and improved services throughout the American economy, and healthcare should be no exception.

I will also support aggressive efforts to eliminate fraud and abuse in government healthcare programs. Taxpayers should not be financing wasteful spending while struggling to afford coverage themselves. Recent fraud cases involving organized schemes have demonstrated how vulnerable parts of the system remain to abuse and how much money can be lost when oversight fails.

Taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits should be reserved for those legally entitled to receive them. At a time when Florida families are struggling with rising costs, Washington should be focused on protecting taxpayer dollars and ensuring public resources are used responsibly.

Florida families deserve representatives who put their interests ahead of special interests. They deserve leaders willing to challenge a healthcare status quo that has become increasingly expensive and increasingly disconnected from the needs of patients.

In Congress, I will fight for lower costs, greater choice, stronger oversight, and a healthcare system that works for the people who pay for it. Florida families have carried the burden of Washington’s failed healthcare policies for long enough.

Michael Carbonara is a Republican candidate for the 22nd district of Florida. He is a proud resident of South Florida, an entrepreneur and father of two, and has been endorsed by many leading conservative organizations.