Democratic congressional candidate Pia Dandiya says her Republican opponent, Casey Askar, wants to end the Affordable Care Act for millions of Americans, including hundreds of thousands of Floridians.
“Florida families are already getting crushed by rising costs, and too many are going without care because they simply can’t afford it. Casey Askar wants to make it worse by gutting their healthcare to appease the same corrupt Washington politicians who keep putting special interests ahead of working families,” said Pia Dandiya in a statement from her campaign on Monday.
Askar, like many Republicans, wants to see ACA — also known as Obamacare — eliminated because of its spiraling costs. On his campaign website, Askar, posted that he wants to "End Obamacare once and for all." Republicans have proposed health care savings accounts.
READ MORE: Florida, hard-hit by Obamacare drop-off, feels the squeeze of rising healthcare costs
Dandiya and Askar are competing for the newly drawn Florida Congressional District 22, which is composed of four counties — Palm Beach, Broward, Hendry and Collier. It includes the cities of Wellington and Parkland, then sprawls further west into the rural Hendry and southern Collier County to include Marco Island.
The non-partisan Cook Political Report says the district leans Republican, meaning it favors a GOP candidate. The new district went 55-44 for Trump in 2024, but it voted 51-48 for Biden in 2020.
Health insurance is a major issue in Florida, whose large population of gig workers, entrepreneurs and small business owners relies heavily on ACA.
Florida, in fact, has the largest ACA enrollment in the country. At just over 3.8 million enrollees, it represents about a fifth of the nation’s total enrolled population.
The Associated Press reported this month that about 440,000 Floridians dropped their ACA plans this year — more than in any other state.
Many ACA enrollees left the federal health insurance marketplace after premiums skyrocketed when Congress failed to extend the COVID-era assistance to policyholders. Democrats favored the extension; Republican refused.
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Learn more about Democratic congressional candidate Pia Dandiya here.
Learn more about Republican congressional candidate Casey Askar here.
