Former House Speaker and Republican gubernatorial hopeful Paul Renner is calling for Congress to eliminate the Affordable Care Act and for the Florida Legislature to nix “medical vaccine mandates” and prohibit patients who refuse to be vaccinated from being excluded or segregated from others.
While Florida leads the nation in enrollment in the federal health exchange with more than 4.6 million residents relying on the marketplace (healthcare.gov) for their insurance, Renner, called the law a failure and said its caused the costs of health care to skyrocket.
“I think the key thing is government can, and obviously does, is to go in to help people financially when they need it. Where we get in trouble is when government tries to run things or they over regulate, and that’s the problem with Obamacare,” Renner told the Florida Phoenix in a phone interview.
“Health care costs have gone up since Obamacare, more than inflation, and more than even wages. And that latter part is the problem. It’s that people can’t afford Obamacare. They can’t afford it anymore, which is why then, Congress is looking at more and more subsidies. So the solution is not to keep subsidizing.”
Renner told the Phoenix that when he was in the Legislature he was enrolled in the state group health insurance plan which itself is heavily subsidized by taxpayers while premiums have been kept at the same level for years.
Renner’s platform, dubbed the “Florida Health Freedom and Wellness Initiative,” addresses four broad policy areas: protecting medical freedom; increasing safety and transparency; parental rights and healthy schools; and community wellness and preventative care. Under each umbrella topic, Renner lists the ways he plans on achieving his objectives if elected Florida’s next governor.
Renner faces U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds in the Republican primary, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump. Donalds is on the record opposing the ACA, but, unlike Renner, he has not released a health care platform. And health care isn’t included in a list of seven issues posted on Donalds’ campaign website.
Renner supports Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo’s call to eliminate vaccine mandates, though the issue hasn’t gained any traction in the Florida Legislature to date and is not supported by all Republicans.
Renner’s health care platform goes further, ending what he calls “medical mandates for vaccines” and prohibiting exclusion or segregation of patients based on vaccination status. That also is an issue the DeSantis administration supports and worked, albeit unsuccessfully, to pass during the 2025 session.
The push to require physicians to treat all patients fell short after several senators raised concerns, including Sen. Gayle Harrell, who said the move could expose physicians to greater liability. Sen. Jason Pizzo also cried fowl and said the requirement contradicted a law (passed under Renner’s term as House speaker) that guarantees Florida physicians legal protections to not treat patients on the basis of their conscience.
The group Stand for Health Freedom praised Renner’s platform.
“Paul Renner’s Florida Health Freedom and Wellness Initiative embodies what Stand for Health Freedom has championed from the start: empowering parents, restoring transparency, and promoting personal responsibility in health policy. It takes vision and conviction to set moral boundaries around public health authority,” Leah Wilson, co-founder and executive director for Stand for Health Freedom said in a prepared statement. “Renner has both and will work tirelessly to secure a brighter, freer, and healthier future for our children.”
Included under parental rights and healthy schools category includes proposals to remove harmful additives from school meals, expand local farm-to-school purchasing, restore student fitness standards, and promote active childhood development.
That section also includes a proposal to “end all unnecessary medical and mental health interventions performed on minors without prior parental consent, both inside and outside of schools.”
“I applaud Paul Renner for his steadfast commitment to parental rights. With Paul Renner as governor, Florida will continue to respect and uphold the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, care, and education of their children. I look forward to working with
him to protect and strengthen Florida families,” Patti Sullivan, state coordinator for Parental Rights Florida said in a statement.
Specific to community wellness and preventive care Renner says he wants to expand Medicaid patients’ access to chiropractic, naturopathic, nutritional, and integrative medicine medicine. He also said he wants to establish a Florida “Whole Health Advisory Council” to coordinate chronic disease prevention. Also included under the community wellness and preventive care category is “promoting clean water, toxin-free spaces, regenerative agriculture, and local food systems.”
Renner also said he wants to support workplace wellness programs and healthier environments for state employees.
–Christine Sexton, Florida Phoenix
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