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Byron Donalds: “We should examine reopening some of the old state facilities…”

Featuring: Byron Donalds, Republican | U.S. House, Florida, District 19

Health Care and Insurance Listening Session – Tampa, FL

Published February 21, 2026 | Video Starts at 24:33

They also can't be mental health counselors as well. I think in Florida we do have to increase funding and mental health. I also think that We should examine reopening some of the old state facilities with respect to mental health. because you have to provide a place where people can go and actually get the care they need with professionals who are steeped in providing that care. (24:33–24:52)

CLAIM

Suggests reopening old state facilities for mental health care in Florida.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Byron Donalds

“The Office of Insurance Regulation in Florida reported...none of the insurance companies in our state have requested a rate increase.”
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“If the losses in Florida go over $17 million, every insurance policy in our state can be assessed.”
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“Half of the state's operating systems, not half, maybe 30%, some of them still run on Dos Brock.”
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“Kennedy Space Center over in Cape Canaveral, they did 160, 65 launches last year.”
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“They're slated in about five years to do 400 launches.”
Health Care and Insurance Listening Session – Tampa, FL | Uploaded February 21, 2026 | 45:30-45:35
“The insurance market, property and casualty, has stabilized.”
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“The auto insurance rates are actually coming down.”
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“We're going to keep the reforms that Governor DeSantis and the legislature put into place several years ago.”
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“We're actually going to see further rate reduction this year [in reinsurance].”
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“Florida is going to Lead the way on this. We are going to examine how we do Medicaid in our state.”
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“We need to be far more efficient in delivering real choices and real interventions at key times [in healthcare].”
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“We want to drive far better health outcomes, not just using the whole healthcare system the way it's always been.”
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“We are not going to expand Medicaid [in Florida].”
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“Medicaid expansion under Obamacare will create a major fiscal burden for the state of Florida.”
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“Current Medicaid expansion calls for 90% payment for able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 54 by the federal government.”
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“When they've expanded Medicaid, you actually get a flood of able-bodied adults out of the private health insurance market and into Medicaid.”
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“It actually crowds [the elderly, young with major issues, pregnant women] out when you expand Medicaid.”
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“If Florida doesn't catch it, we still pay for [Medicaid recipients who leave the state] here in Florida.”
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“We're going to give prompt answers instead of having to wait 60, 90, 120 days, it should be 30 days or less.”
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“Florida's government has to be just as responsive as Florida's businesses.”
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“We're going to do all the eligibility checks, all the fraud checks.”
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“Health care and Medicaid is going to be a major part of [Florida's government reforms and modernizations].”
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“Florida is going to have to completely re-examine mental health top to bottom.”
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“I think in Florida we do have to increase funding in mental health.”
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“The number one thing that's pushed [property insurance rates] down has been tort reform in our state.”
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“Citizens announced, I think it was like an 8 to 10% rate reduction in citizens policies.”
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“The litigation costs are down because of tort reform that happened a couple of years ago in the legislature.”
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“The actuaries in our, the insurance companies, they need five years in order to do a full look back on what the true cost is to rate risk in…”
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“The reason why people choose to do business in Florida is because we're a common sense, pretty low regulation environment.”
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“Anti Semitism and any other form of bigotry, racism are simply not going to be tolerated [in Florida].”
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“Political leaders have a responsibility to establish moral clarity on [issues of bigotry].”
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“Infrastructure is critical for [Florida's] growth.”
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“You have to have streamlined permitting and planning in these regions of our state.”
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“It's actually quite rare for local government officials across jurisdictional lines to actually sit down and talk about these things.”
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“One of the government agencies said, well, we do our own design work. All right, well, how long is that going to take? Three years. Three…”
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“I commend the governor for actually opening up his moving Florida forward plan where he was taking some dollars to expedite key projects.”
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“We grew very, very fast over the last six years. Very fast. It was unexpected, but it happened.”
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“Government has a responsibility now to move at the speed of business.”
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“Europeans are the ones who provide all the [film] credits.”
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“We believe that those dollars will help to facilitate that and actually help build out the internal infrastructure needed so you can have a…”
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“Our standards in Florida need to be about young people mastering math, reading and writing when they graduate high school.”
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“We also need to help them identify what their natural strengths are in life. Maybe your natural strengths do not take you to the university…”
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“At the university level, what I think we need to start looking at is the economic viability of some of these degrees.”
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“Every child in our state should have an individual learning plan.”
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