Ahead of Ron DeSantis rolling out his 2024 economic agenda, DNC spokesperson Ammar Moussa released the following statement:

“As DeSantis debuts his extreme economic vision for the country, Floridians are begging him to address the catastrophic economic failures he’s left them, including some of the fastest-rising housing costs in the country, skyrocketing property insurance rates, and exorbitant health care costs. At the same time, DeSantis has lined the pockets of Florida’s wealthiest and biggest corporations with tax giveaways. It remains a mystery why DeSantis would try to reboot his dumpster fire of a campaign by promising to bring his failures as governor nationwide, but by all means, we welcome Republicans to continue reminding the American people how catastrophic the MAGA agenda is for the economy.”

Under DeSantis, Floridians have seen housing prices skyrocket.

Politico: “Rising cost of living in not quite so free Florida”

CBS News: “Florida Is The Least Affordable Place To Live In The U.S.”

WINK: “Florida Has The Highest Percentage Of Cost-Burdened Renters Nationwide”

CNN: “In December, dozens of state Democratic lawmakers signed on to a letter asking DeSantis to declare a state of emergency and give the attorney general the authority to go after landlords for price gouging if they increase rents by more than 10%. To date, DeSantis hasn’t taken those steps.”

While President Biden is working to lower costs for families across the country, Florida has become an inflation hotspot under DeSantis as the governor fails to address the state’s affordability crisis.

CNN: “Florida is now America’s inflation hotspot”

Pensacola News Journal: “Inflation in the U.S. reached the lowest point its seen since early 2021, after seeing 12 consecutive months of decline, hitting 3% in June, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Florida, however, saw consumer inflation hit 6.9% in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach areas.”

Orlando Sentinel: “Many teachers, firefighters, nurses and other middle-class workers in Florida can’t afford the price of a new home, and those who have homes can’t afford the rising insurance costs, even for folks who live far from coastal zones that are prone to hurricanes and flooding.”

DeSantis has failed to work to bring down skyrocketing property insurance costs for Floridians, instead prioritizing handouts to major insurance companies. He even signed legislation that shielded insurance corporations from consumer lawsuits.

News Service of Florida: “Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday quickly signed a bill aimed at helping shield businesses and insurance companies from lawsuits. … The heavily lobbied bill includes a series of steps to try to limit litigation against businesses and insurance companies.”

Miami Herald: “Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers have responded by making it harder to sue insurance companies and assigning $3 billion to help them withstand storm seasons.”

Orlando Sentinel: “Insurance costs have risen since DeSantis was sworn in from $1,989 in 2019, according to the Insurance Information Institute, to a current average of $3,585, according to Insurify, which provides online rate comparisons.”

Local 10: “Florida homeowners are paying more on average for insurance than any other state in the country and rates increased about 40% this year, according to Mark Friedlander, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, a U.S. industry association based out of New York.”

Orlando Sentinel: “Florida insurance firms, not homeowners, reap benefit of $2 billion taxpayer-financed fund” 

E&E News: “Floridians now have the highest property-insurance rates in the nation, according to the industry-funded Insurance Information Institute. The average premium is $4,231 — nearly triple the U.S. average of $1,544.”

As Floridians struggle with health care access and costs, DeSantis’s ongoing opposition to Medicaid expansion prevents hundreds of thousands of people from getting affordable care.

HuffPost: “While Ron DeSantis Is Fighting Culture Wars, Millions Of Floridians Are Losing Their Health Care”

Orlando Sentinel: “Florida is taking sick kids off Medicaid months before planned”

Kaiser Family Foundation: “If Florida were to expand its Medicaid program, 789,800 uninsured nonelderly adults would become eligible for coverage, 33% of the state’s uninsured nonelderly adult population.”

HuffPost: “DeSantis could do something about this. He has refused. In fact, as of this moment, his administration is embarking on a plan that some analysts worry could make the problem worse.”

HuffPost: “But [expanding Medicaid] has been a tough sell in Tallahassee, where Republicans have had nearly uninterrupted control of the Florida’s lawmaking process since 1999. Two previous efforts to get expansion through the state legislature failed. DeSantis’ spokesperson confirmed in 2021 that he remained opposed to it.”