| | | | |  | | By Kimberly Leonard | | Presented by |  | | | |  A patient signs up for health insurance offered under the Affordable Care Act with an insurance agent in Miami. | Lynne Sladky/AP | Good morning and welcome to November. Today is the first day of the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment, the time of year when people can sign up for health insurance that’s partially — or even fully — financed by the federal government. Under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, people are paying less in premiums for these “Obamacare” plans because the federal government chips in more than it used to toward monthly premiums. The result in Florida is that more than 4.2 million people who otherwise wouldn't get coverage through a job or a government program — like Medicare or Medicaid — can now pay for health care. But open enrollment isn’t the only thing putting the health care law in the spotlight. Former President Donald Trump still talks about improving the law, but has offered no specifics other than promises to give people more options and increase transparency. He raised Obamacare again during a rally in New Mexico Thursday, saying, “If we come up with something better that’ll be great; and everybody wants that because Obamacare sort of sucks.” Trump and Republicans tried to repeal Obamacare when he was president, but fell short by one vote. So he only ended up razing some of its taxes and changing regulations that were then restored under President Joe Biden. Now, Trump calls claims that he wants to “end Obamacare” a “lie.” But if reelected, he would have several ways to alter the law, not the least of which would involve staring down a deadline of 2025, when the extra Inflation Reduction Act money that helps people pay for health insurance expires. Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign declared his week that “health care is on the ballot” after House Speaker Mike Johnson promised medical reforms if Trump wins that would “take a blowtorch to the regulatory state.” House members and the Florida Democratic Party warned that Republicans would “make major changes to health care law” under Trump. Democrats accused Johnson of planning to try to repeal the ACA again after a video recording showed him repeating a “no Obamacare” question asked by a person in the audience. But Johnson then goes on to say that the health care law is “deeply engrained.” The speaker said in a follow-up statement that he wanted to reduce costs and improve quality and that the video contained “no such promise to end Obamacare.” Republicans have failed to coalesce behind health care reform plans, though every GOP member from Florida who’s been in Congress since 2017 when Trump was president voted in favor of repeal. Since then, Democrats have credited defense of the law and its growing popularity to electoral success in many parts of the country. And if the new Congress and president can’t unite behind a way to extend the IRA subsidies that are set to run out in 2025, then millions will lose health care coverage. Harris has pledged if elected to permanently extend the extra money. She also promised to lower prices for more prescription drugs for seniors (who comprise more than 20 percent of Florida’s population) through government negotiation. It won’t be easy: The pharmaceutical industry successfully beat back such measures when Obamacare first passed. And Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act policy letting Medicare negotiate drug prices is a scaled-back version from what Democrats ran on in 2020. It applies to just 10 drugs for seniors in its first year, with more planned in subsequent years, but prices won’t actually fall at the pharmacy counter until 2026. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget in the campaign reporting that Playbook should look at? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Uber: Thank You, Florida Uber Drivers For stepping up during Hurricanes Milton and Helene by helping thousands of Floridians get to shelters and support centers. Your efforts helped keep our communities safe. Learn how Uber drivers stepped up. | | | |  | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | | AC PUSH — “Prison reform advocates sue in federal court for air conditioning in Florida prisons,” reports Elena Barrera of USA Today Network-Florida . “On behalf of three inmates from Dade Correctional Institution — Dwayne Wilson, Tyrone Harris and Gary Wheeler — and all those incarcerated, the Florida Justice Institute wants to require the Department of Corrections to mitigate inmates' ‘risk of harm due to the heat index and lack of ventilation. This plan could include (but not be limited to) the installation of air conditioning or other measures that maintain the heat index in the Dade CI dormitories at safe levels,’ the complaint says.” Read POLITICO’s previous reporting on prison air conditioning in Florida and across the South. ET TU? — “This Democrat could challenge DeSantis’ campaign against abortion, pot amendments,” reports Lawrence Mower of the Tampa Bay Times . “As the state attorney in Leon County, the seat of Florida government where billions in taxpayer dollars are assigned each year, Jack Campbell can prosecute crimes against state officials. … Campbell has made no public statement about it and didn’t return calls and text messages from the Times/Herald over the last week. Any investigation could take months. The statute of limitations expires in two years. The silence has led some critics to wonder whether Campbell is trying to avoid the political fray — or avoid becoming the third state attorney to be suspended by DeSantis.” INFANT MORTALITY TICKED UP — “Infants died from birth defects at higher rates after abortion ban was imposed in Florida,” reports Cindy Krischer Goodman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Infant mortality attributed to congenital anomalies in Florida jumped to its highest level in at least six years in October 2023, a little over a year after the state’s initial abortion ban went into effect, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
|  Gov. Ron DeSantis greets a member of the media as he takes questions during a roundtable discussion with condominium owners at the Roberto Alonso Community Center in Miami Lakes, Florida, on Sept. 9, 2024. | Wilfredo Lee/AP | POLICY IMPLICATIONS — “Florida’s condo sales falling fast as reforms approach,” reports WLRN’s Tom Hudson . “Statewide, the pace of the sale of condominiums and townhouses fell almost 21 percent in September compared to a year earlier. The number of units looking for buyers shot up by 65 percent. The sharp increase in condos for sale and fall-off in sales activity comes in response to reforms passed after the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside killed 98 people.” SHAPING EDUCATION — “A Florida school board candidate lost his race. DeSantis appointed him to the board anyway,” by The Associated Press’ Kate Payne. “Derek Barrs will take an open seat on the Flagler County School Board in northeast Florida, succeeding a member who resigned in September, allowing DeSantis to appoint a replacement rather than the seat going on the ballot for voters to decide. … He won DeSantis’ endorsement in his bid for the board but lost his Aug. 20 race by 290 votes to Janie Ruddy, a former teacher in the district.” RELOCATION NATION — “Millions of movers reveal American polarization in action,” reports The New York Times’ Ronda Kaysen and Ethan Singer . “California has contributed to this trend in a different way: by exporting Republicans en masse. More Republicans have moved out of California than any other state. And those who did have made other states redder in the process — particularly Texas, Arizona, Florida and Nevada. … Once a critical swing state, [Florida] has become more reliably Republican. Out of the 3.5 million voters we tracked, more than 200,000 registered Republicans have moved in over the past four years, more than twice the number of Democrats.”
| | | | A message from Uber:   | | | | LOCAL VOTE — “Top House Republican warns Gainesville could be dissolved over utility ‘clashes,’” reports POLITICO’s Bruce Ritchie. “An outgoing state House Republican leader is warning that the Legislature could vote to dissolve the city of Gainesville if a municipal utility dispute — now headed for the ballot box on Tuesday — is not resolved. Gainesville voters on Tuesday will decide whether the city's charter should be amended to remove language inserted by the Legislature in 2023 removing the utility from City Commission oversight.” WORKFORCE REDUCTION — “Spirit to furlough another 330 pilots at the end of January as part of plan to cut costs by $80 million,” by the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s David Lyons . “Spirit Airlines is following through on a sweeping $80 million cost reduction plan, which includes the furlough of another 330 pilots by the end of January 2025, the pilots union and company confirmed Thursday. The move, first reported by Reuters, comes after the airline dropped 186 pilots from its roster in early September. The latest round of furloughs would be accompanied by the demotion of 120 other pilots.”
| | CAMPAIGN MODE | | | | 
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stand on stage before presenting President Joe Biden with the Global Citizen Award at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York on Sept. 23, 2024. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP | CAMPAIGN ROUNDUP — Former President Donald Trump won’t be voting early after all, The Associated Press reported … The Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC recently put $500,000 into digital ads (via an affiliated committee) for the Senate race this week to help elect Democratic candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell … Rep. María Elvira Salazar is voting early today — on her birthday — with her mother … The Harris-Walz campaign’s Florida operation and the Florida Democratic Party are hosting a “Get Out the Vote Drag Spectacular” in Tampa today … Hillary Clinton is doing a Get Out the Vote event in Tampa on Saturday (and promoting her new book that night) … Former President Bill Clinton will campaign for Harris-Walz in Orlando on Sunday … Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is holding a “Get Out the Vote” rally in Plant City today … Gov. Ron DeSantis is in Ohio today for GOP Senate hopeful Bernie Moreno. ON SIRIUS XM LAURA COATS SHOW — Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Gary Peters (D-Mich.) called Florida one of the party's “offensive states” during the satellite radio interview on Thursday. “We have already talked about Texas but also Florida,” he said. “Those are two states that are looking increasingly good for us. They are getting tight, and we are just trying to push it through into the end of the season here.” (There’s been no new cash infusion from DSCC toward Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign since the group put just over $1 million to help pay for a TV ad that ran the week of Oct. 15 against GOP Sen. Rick Scott, AdImpact shows.) BALLOT BOX — USA Today Network — Florida assembled voting guides about Justice Meredith Sasso and Justice Renatha Francis , the Gov. Ron DeSantis-appointed state Supreme court justices on the ballot. According to the reports: “Every voter in the state is being asked whether the two should be retained on the state's highest court. It's a yes or no question, with a yes vote keeping them on the bench and a no vote removing them.” HELPING IN PA — “Florida personal injury attorney behind pro-Trump billboards lining Western Pennsylvania,” reports the Tribune News Service. “It’s hard to miss the dozens of pro-Trump billboards lining Western Pennsylvania highways with slogans such as ‘Protecting the Children of Pennsylvania’ or ‘Endorsed by Kanye West,’ or the trucks roving around Downtown Pittsburgh proclaiming Donald Trump to be ‘a champion for equal rights.’ Those ads are the work of Dan Newlin, a personal injury attorney based in Orlando, Florida, who has committed millions of his own money to help the Republican nominee and former president carry swing states — such as Pennsylvania — on Tuesday.”
| | ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | | — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) hasn’t given up on making daylight saving time permanent, reports USA Today’s Natalie Neysa Alund. BIRTHDAYS: Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar … former state Rep. Cary Pigman … Jesse Panuccio of Boies Schiller Flexner … (Saturday) former state Sen. Alex Villalobos … (Sunday) state Rep. Susan Valdes … former University of Florida President W. Kent Fuchs … former state Rep. Delores D. Hogan Johnson … Former state Sen. Jack Latvala.
| | | | A message from Uber: Thank You, Florida Uber Drivers
In the face of Hurricanes Milton and Helene, Uber drivers gave Floridians rides to shelters and support centers. We thank the thousands of Uber drivers who went above and beyond, ensuring that during a time of crisis, no one was left behind. Your dedication made a difference when it mattered most. Learn how Uber drivers stepped up. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
