Hurricanes Milton and Helene have caused a lot of disruptions in Florida. Thousands of residents continue to struggle with housing, employment, and health care needs, which is why a coalition of health and labor advocates want Florida leaders to make it easier for people to access Medicaid coverage.
They sent a letter earlier this month to Gov. Ron DeSantis and Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Jason Weida urging them to apply for all available emergency flexibilities the federal government is offering in response to the disasters.
Florida has been experiencing a Public Health Emergency since Sept. 23, according to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. During these periods, states can apply for waivers to ease some of the administrative requirements involved with providing and receiving certain health services.
Many people are experiencing financial crises following the back-to-back hurricanes, said Alison Yager, executive director of the Florida Health Justice Project. Some with low incomes may need to turn to safety net programs like Medicaid for help.
“Individuals who rely on routine health care and either lost their health coverage when they lost their jobs, or their car was flooded, or their local clinic or dialysis center was flooded — we can all easily imagine the multitude of ways in which health care access is compromised after disasters of this magnitude and it could look like so many different types of scenarios,” she said.
Some flexibilities streamline the application process for Medicaid, allowing people to self-attest to certain required information rather than provide documents that may be difficult to obtain after the storms, or expanding the list of health professionals and community groups that can help people likely eligible for Medicaid get temporary coverage while they wait for a final determination.
Others help people maintain their coverage by giving them more time to complete renewals and continuing to consider individuals who evacuated from Florida and may not be able to return yet because their home was damaged as state residents for eligibility purposes. There’s also an option to expand telehealth benefits, among others.
One thing Florida is already doing is waiving prior authorization requirements for “critical” Medicaid services. As part of the state of emergency for Hurricane Milton, AHCA began waiving these requirements on Oct. 7 and continues to do so until further notice.
Prior authorization typically requires doctors to get advanced approval from Medicaid to pay for certain treatments and procedures in order to get reimbursed. Waiving the requirements allows patients to access care that is critical to their safety faster.
But organizations including the Florida Health Justice Project, Central Florida Jobs with Justice, Florida Policy Institute, Florida Voices for Health, Catalyst Miami and SEIU Florida want the state to do more. They’re asking leaders to submit what’s known as a State Plan Amendment to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to apply for these other flexibilities.
“For people to be able to do what they need to do to get their lives on track, they need to be healthy and so ensuring that people have access to health coverage and health services is going to be really key,” said Yager.
WUSF reached out to AHCA, the governor’s office and the Department of Children and Families for a response to the letter but has not yet received one. In response to a follow-up request sent last Thursday, a DCF spokesperson said his team “continues to work on the request.”
