Senate Democrats head to Trump's 'backyard' to press him on Obamacare

Source: Politico

11/03/2025 05:26 PM EST


MIAMI — A trio of Senate Democrats descended on South Florida on Monday to highlight how badly high health insurance prices will hit area residents as the government shutdown drags on.

The soaring insurance costs in the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces are among the issues at the center of the shutdown, which is set to become the longest in U.S. history if it continues into Tuesday night. Florida has 4.7 million people who use marketplace, or “Obamacare,” plans for coverage, more than any other state. But the subsidies that made them affordable to many customers are set to expire at the end of the year.

“We’re here, particularly in Miami-Dade, because you’re ground zero for absorbing the pain from the Republican cuts,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said before a crowd gathered at a local health care union headquarters. “You are the ones who will lose more people off health care altogether and more people who will see their premiums go up than any place else in the country.”

Warren, along with Sens. Tina Smith of Minnesota and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, criticized President Donald Trump and Republicans for refusing to extend the more generous subsidies originally created as part of a 2021 pandemic relief bill. “We are in Donald Trump’s backyard to make the point that people’s health insurance premiums are doubling because of him,” Smith said, referring to Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/03/senate-democrats-trump-florida-obamacare-00634078