Trump will hit Tampa Bay hard as cuts to an affordable care law program

TAMPA – When the father of a Seminole family lost his job in June, his family’s health insurance also disappeared.

He didn’t consider the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, to be an option as it takes months for the program’s annual registration window to open. Overwhelmed and unsettled, the family contacted the Family Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps families find insurance solutions.

Katie Rodders Turner, executive director of a local nonprofit, remembers that she can find new, low-cost policies. The loss of insurance provided by previous employers qualifies for annual registration in one of the federal market location plans provided under the Affordable Care Act.

It will be difficult for more families to get help starting in August when the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding for the Navigator Program by 90%, Roders Turner said. Funding for the national program, which trained workers pay to help people find insurance plans, will be reduced from $97 million to $10 million.

The cut could be the hardest hits in Florida and Tampa Bay. The state has guided the country to register with Affordable Care Acts for the past few years. A record 4.7 million residents signed up for health insurance plans through a federal market location this year.

It was a source of pride to cover children and families, a nonprofit based at the University of South Florida. It received around $13 million, the nation’s largest navigator award, to help residents in the state find affordable healthcare.

“In blocking navigators, the Trump administration is actively undermining the year-round work that USF and its partners do to connect Florida people with life-saving health insurance,” says D-Tampa’s Kathy Caster. The House of Representatives said in a statement. “This is a direct attack on the health, happiness and pocketbooks of communities across the Tampa Bay Area.”

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the cuts make sense and will lower federal market premiums for those who are not eligible for subsidies.

The Navigator will only handle 92,000 subscribers, and released data showing that only 0.6% of subscribers signed up in 2024 are not “Return on Investment.”

“These numbers show that navigators have not registered enough people to justify the substantial amount of federal dollars they have previously spent on the program,” the agency said in a statement.

However, original data from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services also shows that the navigator has enrolled around 300,000 people nationwide, including 15,000 Florida residents, into other federal health programs, such as Medicaid.

Florida’s current funding means navigators can reach out to the community and find families in need, says Xonjenese Jacobs, a former navigator who is the director of covering children and families. Ta. We partner with 10 nonprofit organizations to serve Miami and the Florida Keys from the Panhandle.

The navigator works in hospitals, community resource centers, federally qualified health centers and elsewhere around the state, she said. They are trained to meet people face to face and over the phone and find the best healthcare solutions on a personal basis. It also helps residents with other issues, such as access to forms that rely on tax credits to reduce monthly premium costs.

“Reducing funding to the reductions returned to the overall pool of funding would make the availability of in-person navigator assistance across the state nearly impossible,” Jacobs said.

Navigator fundraising and similar cuts came in 2017 during Trump’s first term. Registration then fell from 12 million to 11 million over three years, the first decrease since it was launched in 2013.

This trend reversed after President Joe Biden recovered funds. Over 24 million Americans have signed up for health insurance this year through federal market location planning.

Roders Turner said the atmosphere became gloomy among Family Healthcare Foundation staff after the financing cuts were confirmed.

The nonprofit employs 25 navigators to serve Hillsboro, Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties. It also partners with Tampa General Hospital, BayCare, Evala Health and Premier Community Healthcare Group to place 13 more navigators at local hospitals and clinics.

The number of registered documents cited by the federal government as the basis for the cuts doesn’t tell the complete story of everything the navigators do, Roders Turner said.

The navigator advises families struggling with food, housing, transportation and other needs. Many residents register online after learning about options from the navigator. There is also a history of insurance agents that change selected insurance plans that may have affected the number of registered navigators.

Cuts are expected and the foundation is raising funds to try to maintain as many navigators as possible, she said. If people don’t think there’s a place to go to help, many would simply go without insurance, she said.

“This is important to help people find insurance or find a doctor,” says Roders Turner. “This is a very important job and it saves lives.”