AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Around 24 million Americans are buying health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. That’s double the number of people that were enrolled just four years ago. And some of the biggest increases in sign-ups came from states that voted for Donald Trump last fall - including Florida, Texas, and Georgia - even though Trump has criticized Obamacare in the past. Katie Roders Turner is the executive director of the Family Healthcare Foundation in Tampa, Florida, an organization of so-called navigators that help people sign up for health insurance. And she joins us now to talk about what she’s seeing in her community and what it might say about these national trends. Thanks for joining us.

KATIE RODERS TURNER: Thank you so much for having me.

RASCOE: So now, it is a navigator’s job to help people, I guess, navigate the Obamacare system to find a health care plan, right? Like, so what does that actually entail?

TURNER: So that is exactly it. That’s our job. So we help people look at all of their options for affordable coverage. We then help them understand how to apply for coverage, look at their financial assistance options, compare plans side by side, help them understand what those are and then help them enroll.

RASCOE: So how long have you been doing this?

TURNER: So I’ve been doing this actually since the health insurance marketplace opened up in 2013.

RASCOE: And do you guys cost money?

TURNER: Completely free - so we’re grant-funded. We’re part of a larger statewide consortium through the Covering Florida network, which is funded through University of South Florida, College of Public Health.

RASCOE: So in Tampa, has your organization seen the same increase in enrollments that’s been taking place nationally? And when did that start?

TURNER: Absolutely. So we’ve definitely seen an increase in marketplace enrollments since people have lost their Medicaid coverage. During COVID-19, there was a pause to Medicaid renewals, and so a lot of people didn’t necessarily have to prove eligibility. That was put on pause so that people kept their health insurance. But once COVID ended, starting in April 2023, everyone did have to start renewing their Medicaid coverage. And that happened for about over the course of a year. And so here in Florida, we had over, like, 1 1/2 million people lose Medicaid coverage. And so we’ve now seen a lot of those same people looking at the health insurance marketplace and seeing that they qualified for help paying for health insurance.

RASCOE: Now, I also heard about - that there are some new subsidies from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that, for lower-income people, you can get coverage for as low as $10 a month. Is that correct?

TURNER: Yeah, that’s true. That is true. So there’s been increased subsidies now, which are great. Unfortunately, they are set to expire at the end of 2025. But still through this year, for people who have enrolled on the health insurance marketplace for 2025, they will be able to get access to those enhanced subsidies.

RASCOE: You mentioned that the additional subsidies for the insurance markets are set to end at the end of 2025. Some conservative Republicans in Congress are saying they caused the cost of health insurance premiums to rise across the board. Do you have any thoughts on that?

TURNER: I would say that we have seen - even prior to the enhanced subsidies, we’d seen the cost of health insurance rising. I don’t believe that it’s the enhanced subsidies themselves.

RASCOE: Obviously, President-elect Trump will be in office, and during his first term, he definitely talked about trying to make some cuts and things of that nature. Tell me a bit about what happened during the first Trump administration, just both in terms of insurance options that customers saw and funding for navigators like you.

TURNER: Absolutely. So during that period of time, we did see an increase in the promotion of short-term health insurance plans. These are insurance products that do not meet the standards of the Affordable Care Act. They’re not heavily - as heavily regulated. They can discriminate against people who have preexisting conditions. And then there was a major cut to the navigator funding as well. I believe it was about an 80% reduction.

RASCOE: I guess, for an organization like yours, are there any preparations being made for the second Trump term? Is your organization making any preparations for that?

TURNER: So for the Family Healthcare Foundation, we want to ensure, of course, that we are able to continue our mission of ensuring everyone has access to affordable healthcare coverage. And we have been working really closely with all of our supportive funders. And I believe that no matter what happens in the future, we’re going to be able to maintain our mission.

RASCOE: That’s Katie Roders Turner. She’s the executive director for the Family Healthcare Foundation in Tampa, Florida. Thank you so much for joining us.

TURNER: Thank you for having me.

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