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I did not know my father had congestive heart failure until he was hospitalized. He never told us. Not because he was dishonest, but because he was protective. He grew quieter. More tired. He moved slower, rested more, and brushed it off when we asked. We thought it was age or stress. We thought there would be time. There wasn’t. By the time we all insisted, “let’s go to the doctor”, it was too late.
I carry that with me. Not as guilt, but as clarity. No family should learn the truth about a loved one’s illness in an emergency room. No parent should feel they need to hide pain to spare their family the cost, the worry, or the burden. Healthcare should not arrive as a crisis. It should arrive long before it.
I am a county commissioner. But I am also a son, a neighbor, and someone who still sits in front of people and I see you. I see our community in the present tense. And right now, people are struggling.
They are working, contributing, and still afraid to seek care. They delay checkups and ignore symptoms. Not because they do not care about their health, but because access feels uncertain and cost feels overwhelming.
This happens every day at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Jackson is our public hospital. It treats everyone. People with private insurance and people with none. The staff there do extraordinary work. They save lives under impossible conditions.
That care is free.
When people cannot access preventive care, the system absorbs the cost later, at a far higher price. Emergency rooms become the entry point. Manageable conditions become life threatening. Families are blindsided. Hospitals are stretched. Taxpayers pick up the tab. This is not compassionate care. It is delayed care. And it is the most expensive way to provide healthcare.
That is why I am supporting legislation urging two essential actions. Congress must extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire. Florida must expand Medicaid.
These steps are not ideological. They are practical.
Enhanced ACA subsidies help working families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance. If they expire, premiums will rise sharply. Some families will downgrade to plans they cannot actually use. Others will lose coverage entirely. Medicaid expansion would close a dangerous gap that leaves hardworking Floridians uninsured. Right now, thousands fall into a space where they make too much for Medicaid and too little for marketplace assistance. They are not irresponsible. They are stuck in a dysfunctional system.
Most states have expanded Medicaid. Florida has not. The result is more uninsured residents, more strain on hospitals like Jackson, and more emergencies that never needed to happen. Preventive care is not just better for patients. It is better for budgets.
Managing chronic illness early prevents hospitalizations. Mental health care early prevents crises that ripple through families and communities. Every dollar spent on preventive saves multiple dollars in emergency care.
This is not about left or right. It is about forward.
Illness does not care who you vote for. Disease does not discriminate. At some point, every one of us or someone we love will need care.
My father should not have had to carry his illness alone. He should not have felt that seeking care would make him a burden. And my family should not have learned the truth when options were already limited.
We can build a system where people go to the doctor before it is too late. Where families are not blindsided. Where hospitals are supported instead of overwhelmed. Extending ACA subsidies and expanding Medicaid move us in that direction. Healthcare should not be a last resort. It should be something people can rely on, early, consistently, and without fear.
That is not too much to ask. It is exactly what a functioning society owes its people.
