The DeSantis administration plans to reject this week’s federal approval of Florida’s plan to expand KidCare, the state’s health insurance program for children.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services accepted Florida’s application for a waiver after a yearlong delay, but with the stipulation that the state provides 12 months of continuous coverage.
In response, the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration said it planned to request a 30-day delay on the waiver. The state's action was first reported by the Florida Phoenix and acknowledged in a press release from U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa.
According to the Florida Phoenix, the state did not accept the Biden administration’s terms and conditions of the approval. The report quoted an email from an AHCA spokesperson saying the state wants to wait to allow the incoming Trump administration to review the policies.
KidCare provides low-cost health insurance to children whose families make too much money to qualify for Medicaid. In Florida, that has meant families have paid $15 or $20 a month for coverage.
In 2023, the Legislature voted unanimously to make more children eligible for KidCare by increasing the income threshold for eligibility to 300% from 210% of the federal poverty level. The change raised the income limit to $90,000 from $64,500 for a family of four.
A few months later, the DeSantis administration filed a lawsuit over a federal rule put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic that requires the state to provide eligible children with a full year of continuous coverage. The lawsuit was dismissed, but the state filed an appeal.
Eligibility is determined each year, so the state has contended the guidelines could lead to coverage being provided for months without premiums being paid.
Lynn Hearn, director of advocacy at the Florida Health Justice Project, says the lawsuit caused a crucial delay just as Florida began reviewing Medicaid eligibility after the end of the COVID public health emergency. More than a half-million children were disenrolled, and they couldn’t get on KidCare due to the waiver dispute.
“It’s truly heartbreaking," she tells WFSU-FM. "Expansion was due to be implemented at a critical time – the exact same time that coverage was due to be ending for not just all children and healthy children within this income bracket, but also the most medically complex children.”
Hearn says the most fragile children often weren’t covered.
“The plan was for especially these medically complex children to be able to transition to the expanded KidCare program," she said, "so they would be able to receive the specialized care that they need through the Children’s Medical Services plan – but that didn’t happen.”
Castor, in her press release, called AHCA’s request “cruel and short-sighted” and claimed Gov. Ron DeSantis “dragged his feet by throwing up roadblocks and wasteful lawsuits for almost a year and a half.”
“It is now solely in his hands to allow this important expansion to go forward, but once again, he is acting like Ebenezer Scrooge,” she said.
Information from News Service of Florida was used in this report.
