This is southwest Florida in focus.

Coming up, the consequences after tax credits for the Affordable Care Act expired.

Millions of Floridians will feel the impact of higher premiums, many facing the future, potentially without health insurance.

Florida lawmakers gear up for a return to Tallahassee, where discussions on the state's handling of immigration and migrant detentions are expected to take center stage, and the efforts to rebuild Florida's coastline after years of hurricanes and housing developments.

Students take over the beach to restore diminished mangrove forests.

Hello, I'm Jennifer Crawford.

Thank you for joining us.

Millions of Americans are at risk of losing their health insurance after enhanced tax credits within the Affordable Care Act, which help reduce the cost of insurance expired at the beginning of the year.

About 4.7 million Floridians are enrolled in the ACA.

and that makes Florida the state with the highest number of enrollees.

Almost all relied on those tax credits, according to KFF, a health care research nonprofit.

More than 20 million subsidized participants will see their premiums increase by an average of 114%.

After the longest government shutdown in U.S.

history failed to extend the credits, the U.S.

House of Representatives began 2026 by voting to extend subsidies for the next three years.

However, the bill is anticipated to stall out when reaching the U.S.

Senate.

For more on the impact of the expiration of the Affordable Care Act subsidies.

We are joined by Gbenga Ajilore, chief economist for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Mr.

Lowrie, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

More than 20 million people relied heavily on these subsidies.

What is the immediate fallout from the subsidies expiring?

So the immediate follow up and this up from this expiring is that their premiums are going to jump up upwards of at least 50% for a lot of people, even more for elderly people.

Now, the subsidies or premium tax credits, they began in 2021 to help Americans get through the pandemic.

Why have so many people now relied on these subsidies?

So one of the things is that health care coverage is expensive, and one of the things that's going to be important for people is to be able to afford them is their premium tax credit enhancement.

And so your health care coverage will keep going up.

But one of the things is that these subsidies have been made it helpful for them.

And now that they've expired, it's going to be difficult for them to afford it.

In Florida, nearly 5 million seniors get their insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act, and some are on fixed incomes.

What does this mean for those seniors in particular, who need the subsidies to be able to afford health care?

So the biggest thing is that they're going to have to keep on the coverage, and so is going to make it more expensive.

So then the question is what do they have to give up?

And now that the coverage has become more expensive, you know what's going to happen with housing?

What's going to happen with food when you know, we're in a period of worry, seeing higher prices for a lot of goods like energy, groceries, things like that.

So the question is why this thing is going to have to give up in order to continue their health care coverage.

Tough questions.

Now, recent reports estimate over 4.5 million Americans will simply forgo health insurance altogether.

What impact does that have on the health insurance marketplace altogether?

So what that's going to do is increase premiums for all of us.

You know, the way we keep premiums down is by having people who are both healthy and people who need health coverage to be able to have health insurance.

The other thing that you know, doesn't get talked a lot about is that people who still don't have health insurance when they need it are still going to, you know, use the health care coverage.

And this is going to be have a huge impact for rural hospitals, because having coverage is what makes, you know, these hospitals viable, financially viable.

So now that people are going to drop off, as you said, about 4 million people now premiums are going to go up.

Hospitals are going to have to bear more of the cost, and it's going to make everyone struggle.

Is there any option for business owners who want to provide health insurance for their employees?

I think this is the same story that we talked about with seniors that, you know, they're going to have to make a decision.

They want to provide it for the employees.

They also, you know, a lot of self-employed workers have it.

You know, if they continue to purchase it.

Where are the costs going to go?

You know, how are you going to save costs?

You know, part of it is like, okay, I want to keep it for my employees.

But now my costs are going to go up.

Do they have to now let people go out in order to maintain their costs?

Because at the same time, they're also small businesses are struggling these days.

And what is the wider impact of the loss of these subsidies on the overall cost of health care and private insurance for everyone else?

So because people are going to drop out, we talked about, you know, 4 million people may drop out at the same time.

We have to look at the broader context where we have with Medicaid.

People are going to be dropping their coverage because they're going to get kicked off due to eligibility concerns.

And so what's going to happen now is that premiums for people who have private insurance, people having through other means are going to have to pay higher premiums.

And again, we have to look at the broader context where we have inflation, you know, going up, you know, 2.7% that costs are going up.

And so people are going to have to make decisions about where do they cut costs, where do they tighten their belts because of the increase in premiums and the cost of health care?

Now Congress took part in the longest government shutdown in history to try to preserve the tax credits.

Do you see a path forward that includes the subsidies being restored at any point?

I would hope so.

And I think this is where, you know, individuals can, you know, talk about advocacy, talk about why health coverage is important for them and what's going to happen for them.

And so letting Congress know, you know, who your representatives are, to be able to say, this is important for us to be able to maintain costs and, you know, work.

You know, a lot of people are worried about affordability.

And so, you know, right now there, you know, the Congress is going to have to, extend their budget, past January 30th this year.

This is an opportunity for them to replace the subsidies and, you know, keep cost low for health coverage.

And what do you think the future of the Affordable Care Act looks like?

Is there hope?

I like to be optimistic.

And I think there's always hope.

You know, this is what Congress does.

You know, and we've seen what this means for people, especially seniors, small business owners, self-employed workers, that this has been really hard for keeping costs low and most importantly, helping people maintain coverage.

And so when you have coverage, you're more likely to take care of yourself and not wait till there's something more serious.

And so I think there's always going to be hope with the Affordable Care Act, because we've seen how well it's worked for the American public.

Mr.

Ajilore, thank you so much for joining us and explaining more information on this very difficult topic.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me.

Coming up, protecting dolphins from the dangers of blue green algae.

A new study looks at the impact the balloons are having on the brains of dolphins.

Next Tuesday, Florida lawmakers will reconvene in Tallahassee for what is expected to be a loaded 2026 legislative session.

Multiple debates are expected to take place over issues such as the elimination of property taxes, potential congressional map, redistricting, and transparency in the school voucher program.

However, proposals over Florida's policing of migrants, including a public state database for immigration enforcement, will be a central talking point.

To learn more about what to expect during this year's legislative session, we are joined by WGCU reporter and host John Davis.

Welcome, John.

Thanks for having me, Jennifer.

One immigration related bill lawmakers will consider proposes expanding the use of E-Verify.

John, what is this all about?

So the federal E-Verify system is a database employers can use to check if their workers are authorized to work in the United States.

Currently, in Florida, only public employers and their contractors and private businesses with 25 or more employees are required to use it.

Republican Representative Bernie Jack is proposing a bill that would expand that to basically all businesses, regardless of how many workers they have.

There was an effort in the 2025 session to do this.

It passed in the House, but it didn't make it through the Senate.

And I think that's by and large, because, I mean, when you think about Florida, we have tourism, i.e., you know, hospitality and agriculture, and those are two major industries that historically have relied heavily on foreign workers.

So I think a lot of those businesses didn't want to see that pass, but it'll be interesting to see if it makes it through this year, that if the E-Verify bill does pass this year, what's next?

Well, that's what I'm going to be looking to see.

Is what kind of resources will Florida actually put into enforcement of this bill?

Because there are other states like Alabama and Arizona, that have that infrastructure in place already, the strong E-Verify laws.

But in those states, very few businesses have actually faced penalties.

So there kind of seems to be a gap there between the intent of the law and actual enforcement.

The enforcement is a big deal.

Another immigration related bill that's been filed concerns marriage fraud.

And what is this all about?

So kind of bizarre that this is actually a bipartisan bill.

The aforementioned Republican representative Jack is co-sponsoring this, with, a state lawmaker in the Jacksonville area.

And this was inspired by one of her constituents who married a Nigerian man and then later discovered it was kind of a scam.

He really only married her to get a green card and get authorized access into the United States.

So this would allow someone in a situation like that to petition for injunction for protection against domestic violence if they experience marriage fraud to a foreign national.

Now, to be clear, the legal infrastructure to file such petitions already exists, but this would just really streamline that process.

And, you know, Representative Daniels says, you know, the woman's story is bizarre, but she says it's really a more common occurrence than you would think.

And it's bipartisan since bipartisan support.

That's great.

Now, there has been an ongoing feud between California officials and U.S.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over the issuance of CDL to unauthorized immigrants.

This was all sparked after an undocumented immigrant with a CDL issued through the state of California made an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike, causing a tragic, terrible crash that killed three people last summer.

Now, I understand this situation provides the context for another immigration related bill that state lawmakers are considering.

Can you talk about that?

Absolutely.

This concerns commercial driver's license.

Senator Don gates is sponsoring this.

It's pretty simple.

Basically, you know, any law enforcement agent in Florida, since they are all part of Ice now, would be able to detain and turn over to federal custody.

Any unauthorized immigrant found driving in the state of Florida with a commercial driver's license, regardless of which state issued that license.

Very interesting.

Now, or we're seeing much in the way of proposed legislation on immigration from any Democratic lawmakers.

Absolutely.

You know, we have all seen those photos and footage of massed ice agents, you know, donning these kind of generic looking tactical vests that you're not even really sure if it's real, you know, when they're conducting these immigration raids.

So, Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith is proposing a bill being dubbed the Visible Act.

And it basically would bar immigration agents or anybody acting on their behalf from wearing a covering that obscures their face.

And it would also kind of require them to wear a specific visible identification during public immigration enforcement functions.

Likewise, Senate Minority Leader Laurie Berman is sponsoring a bill that would add more transparency just by requiring there to be a public database of immigration enforcement actions performed by any state, law enforcement agency or private contractor.

This is a big deal because, you know, I'm sure as you've seen, attorneys, family members have had a hard time even finding out the status of detainees that have been taken to facilities like alligator, Alcatraz, and Deportation Depot.

There is no public database for what's going on with those detainees and with the state looking to add two more facilities just like that in Pensacola and in South Florida.

I think that'll become a more cogent issue as well.

Certainly.

Now, an emergency order that was issued by Governor Ron DeSantis back in 2023, that was in response to former President Biden's immigration policies, is still in place.

It was renewed for a 19th time just last month.

Are Democrats in the state legislature looking to address this and try to do something to curb the governor's emergency powers?

Yeah.

Democratic state lawmakers have been trying to get that emergency order rescinded for a while now.

Last summer, they petitioned the governor to take it down.

But, yeah, there's an effort they want.

Democrats want a resolution not only to terminate this emergency order, but looking forward.

They want any future emergency orders issued by the governor to only last for one year and then automatically expire after a year.

And if there's a need for the emergency order to extend to be on a year, then they would need a vote of two thirds of the state legislature in order for that to happen.

All eyes are on Tallahassee.

Coming up starting Tuesday.

And you've been following this for almost two decades now, the legislative session.

And we are so grateful for your expertise.

John Davis, thank you for joining us.

Thanks, Jennifer.

The 2026 Florida Legislative Session begins on Tuesday, January 13th and will run for 60 days.

It is expected to conclude on Friday, March 13th.

Make sure to head to WGCU.org or download the WGCU app to stay up to date.

With all of the activity coming out of Tallahassee, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation says the return of the statewide bear hunt is a success.

52 bears were harvested during the three week hunting period, despite 172 permits being issued.

FWC says its a hunter success rate very close to other states with similar parameters.

FWC checked and gathered data from each harvested bear for potential future black bear hunts.

Conservation officer George Warthen says the hunt is about helping bears succeed over the long term in our state, and is a way for us to guide an iconic Florida species into the future.

Florida Division of Law Enforcement says there were no wildlife violations, but one hunter did receive a warning for a minor Wildlife Management Area violation.

Warm waters and varied habitats make Florida one of the best places in the country for dolphin watching.

But high temperatures and plenty of sunshine also create the perfect breeding ground for something that harms dolphins.

Blue green algae.

The algae blooms can enter ecosystems populated by dolphins.

A new study reveals a connection between the toxic algae and Alzheimer's in dolphins.

We are joined by Doctor David Davis, a research associate professor of neurology and associate director of the Brain Endowment Bank with the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine.

Doctor Davis, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you so much.

When we think of blue green algae, we are mostly concerned about the physical issues that could impact us as humans.

But you coauthored a study that brought to light the dangers that this poses to dolphins, particularly in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Can you tell us about it?

So the study we, did in the lab, we actually want to see how, you know, these, environmental occurrences of blue green algae and the toxins that they release would actually, you know, impact, kind of the health of the marine life because dolphins, you know, they, they're basically living and, these, environments that are constantly having blooms.

And our goal was this is kind of see, you know, what were the the changes that, these toxins could, cause to, to the brain of these animals.

They're very, very intelligent animals.

So, they pose a really good research model to look at the effects of, algal bloom toxins and particularly changes that could happen to the brain and could be related to humans.

Is Alzheimer's something that commonly develops in dolphins, or are these symptoms being triggered by exposure to the blooms?

So there's an emerging field of research that shows that, you know, these dolphins, they're long lived mammals, but they could develop, changes in their brain that are similar to Alzheimer's disease.

But generally, you know, it's not really, known in the field that these animals have dementia.

So our study was pretty unique to find these types of signatures in their brain and in these high levels of toxin.

So, we related the two together.

And, you know, what we found is that dolphins that were exposed to these algal toxins during algal blooms had these horrible, changes, in their brains that, you know, reminiscent to people who had Alzheimer's disease.

It's quite alarming.

This study focused on the Indian River lagoon, where these dolphins stranded in this region.

Yes.

They're all stranded in Indian River lagoon.

We we tried to look at different areas of the Indian River lagoon.

And our study spanned at about a decade.

So we wanted to kind of give a, you know, kind of a holistic view of what was going on in the Indian River lagoon for the last decade.

And what we found is that, surprisingly, you know, that the toxin levels in the dolphins brains didn't increase as, the study progressed during the years or or the sample that the dolphins that were sampled during the years.

But we did see that the Alzheimer's disease, signatures became more robust as as each with each sequential algal bloom season.

Was there a substantial difference in the neurological issues for the dolphins during the seasons when the blooms were not present?

The gene expression data suggests that, yes.

Dolphins that were, you know, I have to to preference that these these dolphins were at sample for the purpose of the study.

They were they were, stranded animals that were, assessed by the, stranding agencies and, you know, tissue was collected from them and subsequently analyzed.

But, yes, we found that those dolphins that were, collected during bloom seasons, really robust Alzheimer disease signatures that were much higher up in, you know, two to 3 to 5 fold higher than those in non bloom seasons.

And that was suggests that, you know, there's you know, seasonal and toxin related effect on gene expression in these three mountains.

Is there anything that we can learn from this study on dolphins that can be correlated to the health of humans?

When it comes to blue green algae?

I believe so I think the take home message of the study is that, this is research model.

Dolphins, they live in the same environment we do.

We can see them when we're out having, you know, when we're boating or we're out at the beach.

We see them, so, but we have to anticipate that the effects of the toxins on dolphins can potentially be related, to humans.

Because we're in the same environment, the same ecosystem.

We're being exposed to the same things.

You know, the human body is, different than the dolphin.

But, these toxins, they act through really specific mechanisms.

And we believe that this toxin would act through the same mechanism in dolphins that it wouldn't humans.

Thank you so much, Doctor Davis, for joining us today.

Super important work.

We really appreciate your time.

Thank you.

After the break, rebuilding Florida's first line of defense against hurricanes.

The efforts happening to help restore the depleted mangrove forests.

When it comes to the storm surges we go through during hurricanes.

Mangrove forests are critical as they reduce wind speeds and flooding.

But those natural barriers are being threatened.

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida says more than half of Florida's mangrove forests have been lost, mainly due to human interference, including coastal development, as Emma Rodrigues reports.

Southwest Florida students are hitting the shores to help rebuild these Gulf Coast Guard rails.

So I think there's a lot of people that are feeling stressed about the future.

So it feels really good to me that a couple of hours from now, we're going to be able to look at, a young mangrove forest and say, man, we did that.

That was Win Everham, professor of ecology and environmental studies at Fgcu, he and his team know Florida mangroves and their value well, that's why focus water School and Island coast high schools, Academy of Natural Resources partnered up to plant the forest.

Mangroves offer great benefits to Fort Myers Beach's ecosystem.

They serve as a habitat for native fish and birds, and provide great sightseeing opportunities for tourists.

But they also protect from storm surge, a large threat to our barrier islands.

Greg Kosik with Lee County Parks and Recreation spoke to that in the context of Hurricane Irma.

But these mangroves are what really helped take the brunt of that, energy from that storm.

So our homes and our properties don't take it as hard, even though they still did.

So they act as that natural buffer, that natural, almost energy sponge for that storm.

And so we're really trying hard to help make sure that these mangroves are allowed that time.

Trailers and truck beds full of mangrove proper gills or detached parts of mangroves that act as a seed rolled into Bowdich Point that morning.

Then students and staff alike took to the beach to begin planting nearly 300 year island.

Coast.

Junior Riley Pemberton took pride in helping to create the forest.

It's amazing because I saw the damages we got from Ian and Irma and past the hurricanes, and it's just it's so like relieving to know that we could help prevent that from happening again.

Evernham says the new mangroves will be fully mature and propagating in about 30 years, and ensuring hope for the future of Southwest Florida starts right now.

For WGCU news, I'm Emma Rodriguez.

Florida's Department of Environmental Protection estimates the state has 600,000 acres of mangrove forests, most of which are in South Florida.

Coming up next week, combating a decline in reading proficiency.

We're finding out how artificial intelligence could be a tool in the fight to improve child literacy.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Make sure you download the WGCU app where you'll find all of our stories, plus those extended interviews.

Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing you again next week right here on Southwest Florida.

InFocus.