Darren Soto was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016 to represent Florida’s 9thCongressional District, which includes all of Osceola and parts of Orange and Polk Counties.
Born to a Puerto Rican father and Italian-American mother, Darren’s upbringing influenced his passion for public service and helping those in need. After learning the values of hard work from his parents, Darren graduated from Rutgers University and the George Washington University School of Law.
Upon graduation, Darren opened his own practice in Central Florida, where he practiced family law, civil litigation, and real estate law.
Darren will fight to protect Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid for our seniors and our persons with disabilities to safeguard healthcare and financial security for the most vulnerable among us. Our seniors have paid into these programs their entire lives and have earned these benefits. Our disabled and their families need our help to give them a reasonable quality of life.
Darren also supports the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which reaffirms his belief that healthcare is a right for all Americans. This important legislation protects all Americans with pre-existing conditions, keeps all young people on their parents' health insurance until age 26, and protects all Americans from going broke if they get sick by prohibiting lifetime caps.
Florida's healthcare exchange has provided over 1.3 million Floridians with health insurance and is the largest federal exchange in the county. Floridians also received more healthcare subsidies than any other state.
Darren is open to improving or replacing the Act as long as the same number of people remain covered at the same or lower cost. However, Darren will oppose any repeal of the Act without replacement, since it would hurt countless Floridians and be catastrophic to our healthcare system.
Selected bills on healthcare co-sponsored by Congressman Soto:
H.R. 508 - Seniors Have Eyes, Ear, and Teeth Act of 2017 - to expand Medicare coverage to include eyeglasses, hearing aids, and dental care.
H.R. 165 - Restoring the Partnership for County Health Care Costs Act of 2017 - allow, an otherwise eligible individual under Title XVI, to receive SSI, Medicare, Medicaid or CHIP benefits.
H.R. 173 - Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2017 - repeal the excise tax on employer-sponsored health care coverage for which there is an excess benefit (high-cost plans).
H.R. 166 - Outpatient Mental Health Modernization Act of 2017 - stabilize and modernize the provision of partial hospitalization services under the Medicare Program, and for other purposes.