Latest / Breaking The Meta / Florida's insurance crisis is locking families out of homes
Transcript
- Breaking The Meta: Hello everyone and welcome to Breaking the Meadow. My name is Mike Winson. Today we are sitting down with Yen Bailey who is running for US Congress, second district in the state of Florida. Hello Yen, how are you doing today? Yen Bailey: Hi, I'm doing great, thanks. Breaking The Meta: I'm so happy to have you here and learn what you hope to do for your district. ⁓ The way we always get started is can you just give us a little background on who you are and why you decided to run for Congress in the first place? Yen Bailey: Yeah, so I am Yan Bailey. I am a mom, a caretaker for my dad, I guess a small business owner and a lawyer. I spent most of my career in public service. I worked for the Guardian Advaitam program, fighting for abused and neglected kids. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yen Bailey: But most of my career, I spent 14 years as an ethics lawyer at the Florida. Breaking The Meta: ⁓ wow. ⁓ And what made you decide to just to run for Congress? Yen Bailey: Yeah, so yeah, this is not anything I ever thought I would do. Yeah, I mean, never. I didn't even run for student council, you know. But so I actually ran in 2024 for three months. So, yeah, about three months before the election at the time. Breaking The Meta: I've heard that a lot from a lot of people. Okay. Yen Bailey: My friends and I had just started a voter outreach nonprofit. And our goal was to reach out to rural, low income youth. A lot of communities that we really felt were being ignored. We had tried to reach out to the local Democratic party and they just really were not interested, especially not in the rural areas at all. They thought it was a waste of time. We were like, you know what? We'll do something about it. And we were just starting that, just getting it off the ground. And I got this call that just out of the blue. There, there was one candidate, the only candidate, democratic candidate who had filed to run, decided she could not do it. And she needed to drop out and it was already past the filing deadline at that point. And so then the incumbent was just going to go unopposed. Breaking The Meta: Hmm Yen Bailey: And ⁓ so the Democratic Party was just trying to find someone who'd be willing to do it. And honestly, they had reached out to other people who had political backgrounds. No one wanted to do it, put their career on the line because it was really, I mean, it really was an impossible task. ⁓ But I thought I, after I thought about it for a while, I was already doing this work and ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yen Bailey: it would give me a broader platform and I just wanted to be able to help. And so I said yes and I really did, even though they were like, you know, really just want someone on the ballot so we can fill every seat. And I was like, well, no, I will actually run a campaign, a real campaign. Yeah. Yeah. And ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Yeah, if you're going to have me do this, I'm going to actually do this. Yeah. Yen Bailey: As I was going out, really, I was like, I am going to go out to all these counties. It's a huge district. It's 16 counties. Most of it is rural. ⁓ And really, as I was going out into the rural areas, I kept hearing over and over that it was the first time they'd had any candidate talk to them in years, like really from either side, because most of the time, ⁓ no one bothers to campaign out there. ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Wow. Yep. Mm. Yen Bailey: And it was over so fast. And I was also, of course, just so angry that we reelected Donald Trump. Breaking The Meta: You and me both. Yeah. Yen Bailey: So I wanted to be able to do something about it and I felt like we'd really started something. ⁓ And I thought, you know what, this is a way for me to fight back and continue to build infrastructure. We had, I think at that time, six counties out of, you know, that had no democratic infrastructure at all. ⁓ And so, so yeah, that's really why I decided to do it again was just keep building out here, not even thinking that things were gonna change. And now there is a ⁓ real chance of us being able to flip this district. I really do think we can do it. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. As you've gone around and talked to people in your district, what are the pain points? What are the things that most of the people are talking to you about that they could use your help in Congress with? Yen Bailey: Yeah, well of course, you know, affordability is the number one thing. You know, we, I mean, I think it's, you know, it's a nationwide issue, but especially here in my district, 49 % of the people in my district are in that Alice threshold where, you know, they are working. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yen Bailey: sometimes more than one job and they still can't afford to pay just their essential bills. Which, you know, the richest country in the world, ⁓ that is just unacceptable. It is. And ⁓ so, yeah, you know, people want just help. want they want better paying jobs. They want lower cost of living. ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Wild. Mm-hmm. Yen Bailey: know, healthcare, of course, is a huge issue. We have a huge population that relies on Medicaid and the cuts are going to be devastating. a huge population that relies on food stamps. So, so all of those things. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. So I think one of the other things that I hear a lot when I talk to voters about stuff that they're frustrated with is the lack of accountability with when it comes to politicians. So what does accountability mean to you? What does being held accountable look like if you are the representative of District 2 of Florida? Yen Bailey: Yeah. So, ⁓ it means a lot of different things. ⁓ so first of all, one of my focuses is trying is accountability and getting the money and the power and corruption out of politics. ⁓ so term limits, banning stock trading in Congress, overturning citizens United. So we get unlimited money out of politics. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yen Bailey: them shutting that revolving door so that politicians don't just leave office and then just turn around and get some cushy lobbying job. Lobbying job. Yeah. Having real accountability for the Supreme Court. Definitely those types of things. Putting measures in place. Breaking The Meta: become lobbyists. Yeah. Yeah. Yen Bailey: ahead of time so that we can take all of those temptations out for the people in power. And you know, I'm not saying that everyone who goes into politics does it for some nefarious reason, ⁓ but there are a lot of temptations that get thrown at you. ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yen Bailey: And so, just taking that out of the equation so that we can get a government that actually works for us. And also, you know, accountability means that when people do violate the rules, that we do something about it. And it's more than just calling them out on social media. It's it's I mean, I think Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yen Bailey: Public outcry is great. know, like what's going on with the Epstein files. ⁓ You know, a lot of the people whose names have been revealed have, you know, have voluntarily stepped down from some of these positions. And I'm like, that's, that is not accountability. Breaking The Meta: And they just, and they voluntarily stepped down and are suffering to only live with their $500 million at home. It's, what a horrible life they're about to be living. Yen Bailey: Right. Yeah. mean, it's right. Most of them are retirement age already and hold like these symbolic positions on these boards. So, ⁓ yeah, you're off your board, but you still own all your shares. It's not that's not accountability. You know, we need criminal charges. Breaking The Meta: Yeah, yeah. So obviously, Florida as a whole is a purple state, although it's definitely leaned quite red as of late. ⁓ How has what has happened over the last year and two months since Trump took office, how has that changed the interactions that you've had with people compared to when you were started before the 2024 election? Have people that have been historically conservative, have they been almost more open to actually interacting with you in a way that they wouldn't have? before the 2024 election. Yen Bailey: Yeah, definitely. ⁓ And I think it's the number of people who are still registered as Republicans or who still identify as Republicans or independents who have been much more receptive to talking with me has definitely increased ⁓ the longer this presidency and this administration has gone on. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Well, know, Mar-a-Lago flipped blues, so if that can happen, anything can happen, right? Yen Bailey: Absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, I think, ⁓ especially ⁓ since the Epstein files really became a big hot topic. since this Iran war, ⁓ definitely people have really changed their tunes. Some of it started really with ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yen Bailey: the attacks on the boats coming out of Venezuela and the talk about Greenland. ⁓ You know, even back then I was hearing from people who said, you know, I'm a lifelong Republican. I was in the military and I just wrote a letter to our senator and our representative saying this is not Breaking The Meta: Mmm. Yeah. Yen Bailey: what I voted for, this is not what I would have fought for in the military. ⁓ And that they were just so angry about what the direction our country is headed in. People like to believe that America is the white knight and we have to, ⁓ we can't really say that anymore. Breaking The Meta: Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yen Bailey: We're now the bully in the movie. Right? ⁓ But yeah, I think all the people who are like, ⁓ well, we're the country that helps all of these other, ⁓ we go in and help all the other countries that are suffering and we save them. And that is not what we are doing. Breaking The Meta: argument we couldn't have said that even before, but we at least tried to play that part. not definitely not the case anymore. That's for sure. Well, speaking of Iran and and changes ⁓ over the last 14 months again, due to various things now, specifically the Iran war, but also tariffs and and the threats to take Greenland and what happened with Venezuela. Our place at the world stage has has changed. Yen Bailey: Yes. Breaking The Meta: dramatically, potentially. to the point of it just looking drastically different ⁓ sooner rather than later. The reality is no matter what this administration says, even some of our closest allies can't trust this country anymore. How do you see America's foreign policy going forward knowing that we can't be trusted even with trade deals that we make with countries? Yen Bailey: Yeah, I mean, we are in a very precarious situation right now. I want to hope that it's not too late to repair some of these relationships. You know, even just the threats about Greenland, know, that is Denmark is an ally. you know, a NATO member. ⁓ I mean, if we actually tried to take military action against them, all of these, not only, you know, all of these allies would be forced to take action against us. ⁓ Yes, it would just be done. ⁓ And so, you know, Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yup. Yeah, NATO would be done. Yen Bailey: There's, I guess Trump keeps threatening to withdraw from NATO. like, we don't, they are about to kick us out with the things that we are threatening. And you know, we cannot, and really just our posture on things, it really has made us lose all credibility. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yup. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yen Bailey: ⁓ How are we supposed to tell Russia that they can't invade Ukraine or that China can't invade Taiwan ⁓ when we are doing the same thing to other countries? How is what we are doing any different? ⁓ Because as much as Breaking The Meta: Go on. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. Yen Bailey: they like to try to come up with these flimsy excuses, it's become very apparent that ⁓ we're not really trying to help these other countries. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. No, no. ⁓ So I want to do a little bit of future casting. ⁓ So your primary comes along, I think it's June, right? Yen Bailey: It's, no, the primary is in August. Yes. I know they're all so different. Breaking The Meta: August. I can't keep track of all the states. There's so many of them. August primary. So you get through the primaries in August. November comes along and you win. January 2nd comes along and you're sworn in as the representative of the second district. What are the first things that you do? Yen Bailey: Yeah, so the very first thing is making sure that I set up excellent constituent services right here in my district. I think that is something that every congressperson should do regardless. I mean, that's something you can always do no matter what. Doesn't matter who has the majority. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. Yen Bailey: anything else, you should always be able to make sure that when your constituents have questions that you can answer them, you know, you should have regular communications with them. ⁓ You should make sure that ⁓ you're reaching out to them and letting them know, hey, there are all these federal services available and, ⁓ you know, there's no point in Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yen Bailey: voting for grants and programs that never actually make it back to your district. ⁓ yeah, making sure that we have all of that set up. ⁓ I have, you know, like I said, I have a very large district, it's 16 counties. ⁓ And right now there are only two offices. ⁓ Yeah, and in a lot of these rural counties, transportation is an issue. Breaking The Meta: Wow. Mm. Yep. Yen Bailey: ⁓ So I'm planning on having mobile offices set up so that we actually will get out into the district ⁓ and make sure people can get the help they need. So yeah, so that's the first thing just because that's something you can always do. ⁓ Second priority. ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Heck yeah. Yen Bailey: trying to get account of, know, working on accountability, fighting for those things. So I have already joined a coalition of other candidates all across the country where we've all pledged that taking an accountability pledge. This group called ⁓ Back, ⁓ Take Back Congress. ⁓ There are 80 other candidates right now. So that is something that is that is achievable or that we have a real plan where I already have certain relationships that we're already building towards. A lot of the other things that I want to work on, I will need to go in and create relationships with and get other Congress people on board before we can accomplish the other things. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So other things that have happened from this administration that I'm sure have affected, I'm pretty sure you mentioned a little bit, but I just want to go a little deeper. ⁓ How have things like the big, beautiful bill, the ACA subsidy, the loss of the ACA subsidies, the changes in SNAP and the upcoming changes ⁓ in Medicaid or Medicare, I forget which, ⁓ in towards the end of the year. How is it and how is it going to affect your district? Yen Bailey: Yeah. Well, so the ACA subsidies, you know, that people in my district have already started to feel that. ⁓ Florida has the largest number or had the largest number of people relying on the ACA for their health insurance. And so many people relied on that. I have heard, you know, from so many people who said, Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yep. Yen Bailey: My premiums have doubled. We now have to pay $600 a month. And actually when I was hearing from a lot of these people, they were trying to decide whether they were even going to get insurance because $600 is huge. That's a huge increase. yeah, so a lot of people were trying to decide. Breaking The Meta: I've heard that from a lot. Yup. Yen Bailey: know, whether they could even afford to continue to have insurance. And we already have, you know, we are already lacking in health services in this area. A lot of my counties don't even have a hospital. ⁓ And people have to drive a long way. You know, I spoke to someone who's Breaking The Meta: ⁓ wow. Yen Bailey: whose mother had passed away because she had a heart attack and the closest hospital was an hour away. And, you know, probably, you know, maybe if she had had help nearby, close over, ⁓ could have been a different outcome, you know? And ⁓ so there's, and that is, you know, with, Breaking The Meta: closer. Yeah. Yen Bailey: With the ACA subsidies being gotten, a lot of people now going uninsured, these hospitals are going to have to bear the brunt of that. Somebody has to pay and ⁓ they're required to take everyone who comes in. ⁓ We may be losing ⁓ facilities when we really need more than what we currently have. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I also know along with that, especially Florida, probably more than anywhere is also dealing with an insurance like a property insurance issue. ⁓ I don't know how many people realize how bad it actually is in Florida when it comes to ⁓ property insurance. Yen Bailey: Yes, yeah, property insurance is huge here. ⁓ Yeah, I mean, so many people, and this has been an ongoing issue where it is getting to where a lot of people just can't afford to pay for property insurance, can't afford to even, it's getting to where it's causing not just an insurance crisis, but a mortgage crisis. A lot of people just can't even afford to buy the home to begin with because Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Right. Yen Bailey: they are not, part of it is even getting the home insured ⁓ before the bank will even approve you. ⁓ And once you figure in that insurance cost, then you can't even afford to buy the home to begin with. ⁓ And so it's causing a lot of problems all over. Breaking The Meta: I even imagine. Yeah. Yen Bailey: And that is another one of the things that I will fight for once I get there is a federal reinsurance program to make homeowners insurance more affordable for people here. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yeah, and for everyone that has been listening to everything that we've talked about up until this point and heard everything that you said you hoped to do for your district, what are one or two things that no matter what, you would want anyone listening to come away with knowing about you and your campaign? Yen Bailey: Yeah, so ⁓ I am someone who has, you know, I have served this community long before I ever thought that I would run for Congress. You know, other, aside from just, you know, I've always taken jobs where I would have that, that have that public service element, but I've also Breaking The Meta: You Yeah. Yen Bailey: been an advocate, community advocate, volunteer, you know, just my entire adult life. And this was just another way for me to help this community. And no matter what happens, I will continue to serve this community in one way or the other. It's just a part of who I am. And I'm also someone who doesn't back down from a fight. I did this when there really was no hope of winning, ⁓ just because I wanted people to know that there are other options and that someone's willing to fight for that. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. For anyone that wants to learn more about you ⁓ and support you, whether it's through volunteering or donations, where can they find you? Yen Bailey: yenbaileyforcongress.com is my website and I'm also on every social media platform although I think YouTube, technically have a YouTube channel, it is not, it doesn't actually, I we may have like one video on there. We need to be better about actually uploading things onto YouTube. But yes, I am on all the social media platforms. I think on Breaking The Meta: You Yen Bailey: pretty much all of them, it's at yen for Congress. Breaking The Meta: Yen, thank you so much for sitting down with us and letting us get to know you a little bit. appreciate it. Yen Bailey: Thank you, I really love talking with you. Breaking The Meta: For everyone that's listened up until this point, thank you as well. Please hit all those buttons down below, like, subscribe, share, comment. ⁓ This is how we help people like Yen and all these other amazing people that are running for Congress that are trying to do things the way we've been saying for decades that need to get done. They want to have the hard conversation. They want to be held accountable. They aren't taking PAC money. ⁓ And because of that, they need our help. So please watch and share even if it's to people that aren't in aren't in Jen's district because it helps the algorithm, which increases the chance that people in her district will actually see what, you know, what they need to see. So ⁓ and for anyone that might be new to this podcast, just you know, breaking the meta is about having hard conversations when necessary, fighting to break the status quo and the idea that all people, no matter your race, religion, gender or identity, deserve rights, respect, dignity and safety. Again, Jen, thank you so much for being here and for everyone else to see you next time on Breaking the Meta. Bye guys.