MEAWW.COM / NEWS / POLITICS

Ron DeSantis slammed for dodging questions on Florida's health insurance crisis during second GOP debate

Rather than directly answering questions on Florida's low health insurance rate, Ron DeSantis blamed the Joe Biden administration for the crisis

SIMI VALLEY, CALIFORNIA: The Second GOP Debate tested the presidential hopefuls from the Republican Party on addressing the anxieties and struggles of Americans. To the disappointment of the viewers, many of the candidates failed to take the challenge head-on, especially Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. 

When the governor was questioned about the poor numbers of the health insurance crisis in the state, he decided to dodge the question completely without addressing the criticisms against him. 

His move, however, did not go unnoticed by the viewers of the debate, as many of them took to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to call him out. 

Ron DeSantis questioned on Florida's health insurance crisis

Fox Business host Stuart Varney put Ron DeSantis in the spot by asking him about the millions of Floridians who remain devoid of health insurance, pointing out that the state has poor insurance coverage rates compared to the national average. 

In response, DeSantis derailed and discussed the inflation rate and blamed the Biden administration for causing the state to perform poorly in the insurance area. 

"This is a symptom of our economic decline," claimed DeSantis, adding, "Everything has gotten more expensive. You see, insurance rates are going through the roofs."

Following his consistent trend of sharing stories of the people he "spoke to," he included an incident of a woman complaining about grocery prices. 

According to DeSantis, the "underlying problems" are Bidenomics, the overspending of the government, and Biden's rules and regulations that he plans to "throw in the trash can" as soon as he joins office.  

He refrained from mentioning the health insurance problems in the rest of his response as he defended his state for not having welfare benefits as the people "believe in work". 

Ron DeSantis called out for not addressing Florida's health insurance crisis

Several viewers of the GOP debate took to X (formerly Twitter) to slam Ron DeSantis for not directly responding to the moderator's question about Florida's health insurance crisis. 

One rhetorically inquired, "Did anyone hear a solution to the insurance crisis from Ron DeSantis? Me neither," as another said, "Why won’t Ron DeSantis answer the question about insurance in Florida? Stop dodging the questions Ron."

The viewers were not happy with DeSantis diverting the audience's attention to other unrelated subjects than actually addressing the crisis, as a person wrote, "Varney: "Florida has the worst health insurance rate. What will you do." Desantis: "Grocery prices, Bidenomics, high gas prices," pointing it out.

Another stated, "DeSantis continues to show the average Republican voter that he can’t think and respond on his feet. For better or worse, that was one of President Trump’s qualities that Republicans appreciated the most."

People also found it strange that the Florida governor tends to always bring in people he has supposedly spoken to when he is publicly speaking, with a viewer stating, "DeSantis can keep talking about the people he met and talked to, but I refuse to believe that he has actually communicated with other human beings."

"@GovRonDeSantis is always “meeting someone” related to every question he gets in this debate. It’s weird. Almost like he’s making it up as he goes," expressed another.