Concerns Arise Over Trump's Impact On Obamacare
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- President-elect Donald Trump has promised to repeal and replace Obamacare and with a Republican controlled Congress it is likely that the Affordable Care Act will be changing.
No one knows how or when but it is causing some panic in South Florida for patients who have Obamacare.
"It makes me nervous," Carmen Elena Cortez told CBS4's Joan Murray.
Cortez had no insurance until she signed up for Obamacare two years ago. CBS4 spoke to her as she was at a doctor's appointment in Miami at Community Health of South Florida Inc., a federally qualified health center.
"It was scary, it was hectic," she said. "Once I got insurance, my life turned around 100 percent."
However, Cortez says her insurance premiums have doubled and she thinks Obamacare needs some adjustment.
"They need to fix it not throw it away," she says.
Among some of the changes that have been floated before are:
- Raising the tax credit
- Eliminate the penalty mandate
- Add more insurance options
Since the election, phone calls are coming in non-stop at Sunshine Life and Health in Hialeah, one of the busiest places to sign up for Obamacare.
"I have many people come to me because of the penalty," says insurance agent Rosaly Hernandez. "Later they have cancer and now can't be without it."
Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, who will return to Congress next year, and says health insurance will be a priority in the new year.
"The increase in premiums are a big problem and a bigger problem is higher deductibles," he said. "The old system didn't work. This one doesn't. We need a better way to help people."
