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Affordable Care Act Open Enrollment Brings New Questions

An assortment of prescription medications
Pixabay
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

Open enrollment for 2018 health coverage begins in about one month, but as happened last year, rumors have already begun circulating about astronomical premium increases.

Most Floridians never saw their deductibles go up as projected last year, and several saw them actually decrease in spite of the frightening headlines. That’s because most of the quoted hikes were covered by the healthcare exchange in the end. But, now, a new batch of ominous rumors is going around.

Florida Blue’s west Florida market president, David Pizzo, joins Gulf Coast Live to clear up some of the misinformation.

Marilyn Gregory of the Health Planning Council of Southwest Florida will also join the show. She talks about the federal funding Floridians can expect to see offset some of the out-of-pocket costs.

Gulf Coast Live talked about the 340,000 children at risk of being uninsured earlier this week due to the expiration of the Children's Healthcare Insurance Program, or CHIP. Xonjenese Jacobs of USF Health Florida Covering Kids and Families talks about the alternative options Southwest Florida families have as open enrollment approaches.

Copyright 2020 WGCU. To see more, visit WGCU.

Julie Glenn is the host of Gulf Coast Live. She has been working in southwest Florida as a freelance writer since 2007, most recently as a regular columnist for the Naples Daily News. She began her broadcasting career in 1993 as a reporter/anchor/producer for a local CBS affiliate in Quincy, Illinois. After also working for the NBC affiliate, she decided to move to Parma, Italy where she earned her Master’s degree in communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Her undergraduate degree in Mass Communication is from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
RachelIacovoneis a reporter and associate producer of Gulf Coast LiveforWGCU News. Rachel came toWGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.
Matthew Smith is a reporter and producer of WGCU’s Gulf Coast Live.