Many Florida families are facing interruptions in health care for their children following the mass disenrollment resulting from the state’s Medicaid unwinding.
In Florida, it’s estimated that around 550,000 children lost Medicaid coverage since May of last year, when the state began purging enrollees. Since April of 2023, counties in the Tampa Bay region saw around a 20% decline in Medicaid coverage for children. In Hillsborough County alone, 46,174 children lost coverage, according to an enrollment tracker published by the Florida Policy Institute.
The state’s process for redetermining Floridians' eligibility for Medicaid has also come under fire, with many health advocates citing a high number of complaints over the accuracy and timeliness of termination notices sent to enrollees.
Last August, two Florida parents filed a class action lawsuit claiming they were improperly disenrolled from their Medicaid coverage, and that it hurt their children’s ability to receive critical treatments. The federal case went to trial earlier this month.
Attorney Lynn Hearn with the Florida Health Justice Project, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, said that suspicions about Florida's Medicaid redetermination process being riddled with errors and lacking due process are being confirmed in court.
"We are seeing a high volume of errors being made in the eligibility determinations. We see these in our individual practice, and we learned some additional information about these types of errors during the litigation," she said during a press call held by the Florida Policy Institute.
Hearn said that the nonprofit is continuing to hear from parents daily who believe that their Medicaid eligibility was terminated in error.
Georgetown Center for Children and Families Director Joan Alker said that securing health insurance for children and pregnant women in Florida has become a litigious affair.
"Unfortunately, the state is distinguishing itself these days with being one of the most hostile states in the country, if not the most hostile state to the notion that children should have access to health,” she said during the press call.
Separate from the federal class action lawsuit, the DeSantis administration has been challenging federal rules that relate to Florida KidCare, the state program that distributes federal Children’s Health Insurance Program funds.
Despite a federal court in Tampa shooting down the rule challenges brought by the state, Alker said the DeSantis administration is now appealing the decision.
Alker said Florida families are stuck in the crossfire of the two ongoing lawsuits and the confusion from the Medicaid unwinding.
In the meantime, she said pregnant women, new mothers and young kids are being forced to delay critical care and pay out of pocket for health care expenses.
Gabriella Paul covers the stories of people living paycheck to paycheck in the greater Tampa Bay region for WUSF. She's also a Report for America corps member. Here’s how you can share your story with her.
