By Daniel Chang and Angela Hart | KFF Well being Information
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantisAge: 45Florida inhabitants: 22.2 million
California Gov. Gavin NewsomAge: 56California inhabitants: 39 million
Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — political rivals from reverse coasts and proxies for pink and blue America — are set to sq. off for a first-of-its-kind debate Nov. 30 in Georgia.
Newsom, a liberal firebrand in his second time period as governor of California, isn’t working for president in 2024. However he goaded DeSantis, in his second time period as governor of Florida, to go mano a mano. “I’ll convey my hair gel. You convey your hairspray,” he taunted on social media.
The matchup guarantees to be a heated brawl between rising political stars who lead two of the nation’s most populous and numerous states. And it’ll mark the primary time the politicians meet in particular person whilst they’ve very publicly traded barbs and insults, in current weeks attacking one another in fundraising movies and marketing campaign adverts.
Entrance and heart can be homelessness and well being care, prime priorities for voters — and points which have largely outlined the governors’ insurance policies and management types. From abortion to COVID-19 vaccines, Newsom and DeSantis couldn’t be additional aside.
Earlier this 12 months, DeSantis blasted California for being too beneficiant with public profit packages, reminiscent of Medicaid, which the Golden State has expanded to all eligible residents no matter immigration standing. That sweeping coverage takes impact in January and goes effectively past the optionally available enlargement of Medicaid that the Inexpensive Care Act provided states. In Florida, considered one of 10 states which have refused to develop Medicaid below Obamacare, DeSantis wears the state’s 11% charge of uninsured residents as a badge of honor.
“We’re not going to be like California and have huge numbers of individuals on authorities packages with out work necessities,” DeSantis stated at a presidential main debate in Southern California earlier this 12 months.
DeSantis has led his state to limit abortion and gender-affirming care and to ban COVID-19-related masks and vaccine mandates.
Newsom, a slick and brash surrogate for Democratic President Joe Biden, has slammed DeSantis for placing Floridians at risk and stripping them of their rights.
“Be a part of us in California, the place we nonetheless consider in freedom,” Newsom stated in a political advert earlier this 12 months.
Newsom has earned the moniker of “well being care governor” by catapulting the difficulty to the highest of his coverage priorities. He made California an abortion sanctuary and is dramatically increasing well being care advantages. He had promised to convey single-payer well being care to the nation’s most populous state whereas campaigning for his first time period, however that concept hit stiff political opposition early in his tenure. And now Newsom boasts about bringing the state’s uninsured charge to an all-time low of 6.5% by increasing protection in different methods.
These points are anticipated to take heart stage in the course of the nationally televised 90-minute debate on Fox Information, which might have main reverberations for the presidential contest subsequent 12 months and will even assist form the 2028 subject of White Home contenders.
Upfront of the showdown, KFF Well being Information analyzed 10 of the governors’ prime well being care positions and the way their insurance policies have improved — or hindered — the well being of the residents they signify.
ObamacareFloridaCaliforniaDeSantis has refused to develop Medicaid eligibility to extra folks below the Inexpensive Care Act. Partly because of this, greater than 3 million Floridians had protection by means of the federal Obamacare change as of February, greater than another state. Florida doesn’t have a state-based change or supply state-sponsored subsidies.The state has enthusiastically embraced the Inexpensive Care Act, increasing Medicaid whereas organising its personal insurance coverage change, Lined California. Beneath Newsom, it has additionally gone effectively past the provisions of Obamacare and created a state requirement for Californians to have medical health insurance after the federal mandate was eradicated.AbortionFloridaCaliforniaDeSantis permitted laws in April banning abortions after six weeks of being pregnant. Nevertheless, the Florida Supreme Courtroom has taken up a problem to the 15-week ban launched in 2022, which is able to decide if the six-week ban can take impact.Newsom spearheaded the hassle in 2022 to amend the state structure to enshrine the precise to abortion and contraception. He additionally permitted $60 million to assist uninsured sufferers and folks from out of state pay for abortions in California, and signed reproductive well being care legal guidelines, together with one defending docs who mail abortion drugs to different states.Transgender CareFloridaCaliforniaUnder DeSantis, Florida handed a regulation this 12 months banning gender-affirming well being care for trans minors and mandating that grownup sufferers signal knowledgeable consent kinds earlier than beginning or persevering with hormone therapy. The regulation additionally restricts who can order hormone remedy to physicians and prohibits the usage of telehealth for brand new prescriptions. A federal lawsuit difficult the regulation is ready to go to trial in mid-December.Newsom and different state leaders have amended state regulation to make sure all California adults and kids are entitled to gender-affirming well being care companies. And insurance coverage corporations doing enterprise in California should embody data on in-network suppliers for gender-affirming companies by 2025. State well being care companies are designing “enforceable high quality requirements” to make sure trans sufferers have entry to complete care.HomelessnessFloridaCaliforniaDeSantis has not declared homelessness a precedence. In a video filmed on the streets of San Francisco and posted to social media in June, DeSantis used the subject as a marketing campaign cudgelto criticize what he known as “leftist insurance policies” in California. Florida is experimenting with utilizing Medicaid funds to handle homelessness, however this system is restricted. Almost 26,000 folks are homeless in Florida, or 12 of each 10,000 residents.Newsom has plowed greater than $20 billion into the homelessness disaster, with billions extra for well being and social companies. For instance, some homeless Californians can get social companies by means of the state’s Medicaid program, reminiscent of cash for rental safety deposits, utility funds, and first and final month’s hire. Newsom additionally led a brand new state initiative that might drive some homeless folks into psychological well being or dependancy therapy. Greater than 171,000 folks are homeless in California, or 44 of each 10,000 residents.Psychological HealthFloridaCaliforniaDeSantis has stored his pledge to advocate for psychological well being therapy packages as governor, though Florida nonetheless ranks forty third nationally in entry to psychological well being care and has the fourth-highest charge of adults with psychological sickness who’re uninsured, in keeping with the Miami Heart for Psychological Well being and Restoration. Beneath DeSantis, Florida has elevated state funding for psychological well being packages in colleges and peer-to-peer psychological well being companies for first responders, and directed funding to suicide prevention.Newsom in 2020 signed one of many nation’s strongest psychological well being parity legal guidelines, which requires insurance coverage corporations to cowl psychological well being and substance use issues simply as they might bodily well being situations. He’s funding a $4.7 billion initiative to offer psychological well being therapy in colleges. Newsom can also be main the marketing campaign for a statewide, $6.4 billion bond measure in 2024 to revamp and develop community-based behavioral well being packages, together with hundreds of latest therapy beds.AddictionFloridaCaliforniaFlorida’s drug overdose demise charge was 37.5 per 100,000 folks in 2021. In August, DeSantis introduced a brand new statewide dependancy restoration program billed as a “first of its variety” in america, utilizing peer counselors, medication-assisted therapy, and a coordinated community of assist companies. DeSantis additionally licensed Florida counties to undertake needle change packages in 2019 to scale back the unfold of blood-borne ailments and encourage dependancy therapy.California’s drug overdose charge was 26.6 per 100,000 folks in 2021. Newsom is sending the state Freeway Patrol and Nationwide Guard into San Francisco to fight the open-air fentanyl commerce and is boosting dependancy restoration packages statewide. However he vetoed laws final 12 months that may have allowed Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland to ascertain secure injection websites.Prescription DrugsFloridaCaliforniaA DeSantis proposal submitted to the FDA in 2020 consists of permitting imported medicines from Canada. A brand new state regulation additionally units worth limits for pharmacy profit managers — intermediaries between insurers, pharmacies, and producers — and creates new guidelines for them round pricing transparency. The regulation additionally requires pharmaceutical corporations to reveal important worth hikes.Newsom is spearheading a $100 million, first-in-the-nation initiative that places California within the generic drugmaking enterprise, starting with insulin and the opioid reversal drug naloxone. California already had a pricing transparency regulation when Newsom took workplace. This 12 months, he signed a regulation that tightens state laws for pharmacy profit managers.Well being Care AffordabilityFloridaCaliforniaIn 2019, DeSantis signed the Affected person Financial savings Act, which permits well being insurers to share price financial savings with enrollees who store for well being care companies, reminiscent of imaging and diagnostic exams. Beneath his management, Florida lawmakers have additionally allowed short-term well being plans lasting lower than a 12 months and direct well being care agreementsbetween a affected person and a well being care supplier that aren’t thought of insurance coverage and aren’t topic to Florida’s insurance coverage code.One in all Newsom’s first well being care initiatives was to fund state-financed medical health insurance subsidies for low- and middle-income residents who buy insurance coverage by means of Lined California. Newsom this 12 months additionally agreed to decrease copays and do away with some deductibles for plans bought by means of the change. California’s newly created Workplace of Well being Care Affordability is capping trade price will increase and will probably regulate well being trade consolidation. California bans short-term well being plans.Public HealthFloridaCaliforniaDeSantis signed laws in 2021 banning authorities, colleges, and personal employers from requiring covid vaccinations. In 2023, he pushed legislators to undertake legal guidelines prohibiting sure vaccine and masks necessities. He additionally fashioned a Public Well being Integrity Committee led by his hand-picked surgeon normal, Joseph Ladapo, whose official steering on covid vaccines contradicts the CDC’s suggestions. The Sunshine State’s covid-19 vaccine booster charge for residents age 5 and older is 12.4%.Newsom turned the primary U.S. governor to situation a statewide stay-at-home order at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. He pushed sturdy vaccination and masks mandates and accused DeSantis of being weak on public well being. Newsom has additionally signed legal guidelines strengthening childhood vaccination mandates, together with a measure that cracks down on bogus medical exemptions granted by docs. The Golden State’s covid-19 vaccine booster charge for residents ages 5 and older is 21.9%.Immigrant Well being CareFloridaCaliforniaDeSantis has not declared homelessness a precedence. In a video filmed on the streets of San Francisco and posted to social media in June, DeSantis used the subject as a marketing campaign cudgel to criticize what he known as “leftist insurance policies” in California. Florida is experimenting with utilizing Medicaid funds to handle homelessness, however this system is restricted. Almost 26,000 folks are homeless in Florida, or 12 of each 10,000 residents.Starting in January, all immigrants who meet earnings {qualifications} can be eligible for the state’s Medicaid program. Earlier than Newsom took workplace, California had already expanded eligibility to unauthorized immigrant kids by means of age 18. Newsom then signed legal guidelines increasing this system to younger adults as much as age 26, adults 50 and older, and, later, immigrants of any age who in any other case meet eligibility necessities.
This text was produced by KFF Well being Information, previously often called Kaiser Well being Information (KHN), a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is without doubt one of the core working packages at KFF — the unbiased supply for well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. KFF Well being Information is the writer of California Healthline, an editorially unbiased service of the California Well being Care Basis.
