Florida’s top Medicaid official came before the Legislature Tuesday to update state senators on a pending legal battle with the federal government over expansion of the popular children’s health insurance program known as Florida KidCare.
But Brian Meyer couldn’t answer a simple question: How many children have been disenrolled from the program because their families haven’t paid the premiums, which is at the center of the tussle between the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)?
Meyer couldn’t answer another question during a hearing before the Senate Health Policy Committee: How many children would have been enrolled had the expansion been implemented as planned to cover children living in families that earn up to 300% of the federal poverty level, which amounts to $96,450 annually? Now, only children living in families earning 200% of the federal poverty level qualify. The Legislature ordered the higher threshold in 2023 but the administration hasn’t complied.
“I don’t have that information handy, but I’d be certainly happy to work with our Florida Healthy Kids Corp. partners on that information,” Meyer said, responding to Boynton Beach Democrat Sen. Lori Berman’s questions.
The Florida Healthy Kids Corp. helps administer the state’s version of the federal children’s health insurance program, dubbed Florida KidCare.
The Florida Phoenix asked the state Agency for Health Care Administration, which administers the Medicaid program, and Florida Healthy Kids for disenrollment data but has received no response.
The Phoenix also asked those agencies for Florida Kidcare disenrollment information in July but has received no data.
Florida KidCare is the umbrella name for the federal subsidized children’s health insurance program, which allows families that earn too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid to access affordable health insurance. Florida KidCare is an optional Medicaid expansion and families must contribute to the costs of care by paying monthly premiums.
Legal wrangling
Meyer’s presentation largely focused on legal wrangling with CMS over expanding the program. The dispute began under former President Joe Biden but continues to linger under President Donald Trump.
The state sued the federal government in February 2024 after being told the feds would approve the expansion but that the state would have to abide by a 12-month continuous eligibility requirement. That was dictated by the 2023 federal budget, as flagged in a “Frequently Asked Questions” document sent to Medicaid directors nationwide and later codified into rule.
It requires the state to keep eligible enrolled children in the program for a year even if their parents miss the state-mandated monthly premiums.
The DeSantis administration argued at the time that the federal government overstepped its authority with the requirement. Florida was the only state to challenge the rule.
The lawsuit has not moved much since first being filed. U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven in July ordered the parties to provide an update on the legal challenge by September. That’s when attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice asked Scriven to keep the case open.
“We are continuing to have conversations related to kinda settling this that will be an amenable position to the state and also to the federal government, so we are hopeful we get somewhere hopefully in the near future,” he said.
Meyer said it’s difficult to predict the timeline on the litigation. “We are certainly committed to finding alternative pathways forward to implement the legislation,” he said, adding that the state is in discussions with the “higher levels” at CMS.
Several members of the committee expressed support for the state’s position. Stuart Republican Sen. Gayle Harrell said she didn’t understand the federal government tying the 12-month continuous eligibility with expansion approval.
“We are essentially being held hostage on implementation of raising the income eligibility to 300% of the federal poverty level under the [Medicaid] waiver because of this lawsuit,” Harrell said.
The continued delay in expanding access to Florida KidCare comes with the number of uninsured children in the state on the rise, with a new study showing that 8.5% of children in the state are uninsured, up from 7.4% in 2024. That’s an increase of about 67,000 uninsured children.
–Christine Sexton, Florida Phoenix
JimboXYZ says
The Healthcare insurance companies are to blame, they keep raising their premiums & procedures. End of the day, that greed continues and the executives are banking on the premium increases for unaffordable healthcare for anyone. Biden-Harris just kept paying for the extortions of the Healthcare industry in subsidies. Add the Insurance industry hasn’t done anything for malpractice premiums being affordable to provide healthcare. Everyone has to take their accountability & responsibility for rampant inflation of the last 5 years alone. The working poor aren’t covered either. When a healthcare executive makes 1,000’s of times what any workers that actually deliver healthcare make in a paycheck, there’s the problem right there. How much of this is funded by healthcare ? Don’t get me started on the DOGE exposing the NGO nonsense. We all wonder why we can’t afford life ? It’s the gouging that continues to plague the economy. We are unknowingly & unwillingly being grossly overcharged in the name of Capitalism & Democracy to fund any & every interest of a hobby the executives might have. Special place in hell for those folks. All one has to do is reflect back on the United Healthcare CEO that was assassinated/murdered in NYC.
Unfortunately there are no solutions. Every time a short timer leaves a Flagler County or any of the townships of Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Bunnell, the replacement ends up costing taxpayers tens & 100’s of thousands more to replace that temp employee that is a FT hire position. And the reason(s) those folks are gone vary, scandals, lawsuits from decisions & exposures that had no payoff to approve in the 1st place. That’s what the human race does pretty much. It is what it is. And since politicians get votes & whatever else comes with being in charge of it all, they give away the farm in a deal that is so lopsided for the city taxpayers & government, it’s obscene. We’re still being sued for Alfin’s growth approvals for Home Builder’s Association for impact fees. Sold that growth would pay for itself, & it simply is the next round of bending over the masses to pay for something a majority of voters ever voted a politician in office to do. As it collapsed in the fantasy of paying for itself was based upon, all the one’s buying in on that growth are no angry litigants trying to sue for a settlement and still do nothing more than they ever have done to date. The lots are cleared. The money was never there, & what was there was so grossly insufficient it’s long gone. And as usual the masses of homeowner’s & taxpayers are left holding the bag on the litigation bill. when someone makes a poor financial decision like these execs & government officials have made for themselves & their corporations, they need to eat that loss like the rest of us have had to sucked it up & owned our own poor financial decisions. There should be no litigation to heap this burden back onto the masses to pick up the tab for mistakes we never approved nor wanted. I’m sure there are folks that bought too much car payment at a dealership, the repossession happens for those individuals and the dealership resells the car to the next unsuspecting consumer to go thru the same process. credit Card debt has never been worse than it has been today. It’s a shame that’s coming down to unaffordable basic necessities of life.
https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article260756357.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson
Skibum says
I believe Florida officials know EXACTLY how many of this state’s children have lost healthcare coverage due to the gov’s refusal to comply with the state’s own eligibility rule. There is no doubt in my mind that this is just another in a long line of corrupt efforts to cover up facts that show how horrible this state is treating its own citizens.
Skibum says
As reported this morning, if republi-cons are successful in allowing Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire, the worst hit states will be “red” states with majority republican voters. How do the maga members of Congress think their own voters will take the news of their healthcare costs skyrocketing? Do they care that they are screwing their own GOP supporters, raising the cost of healthcare for millions just so they can placate a bunch of billionaires and give the less than 1% more unneeded tax cuts?
Here is the breakdown of the top 10 states for expected healthcare cost increases if they allow the subsidies to end, and the % of each state’s increase:
1) West Virginia, 387%
2) Wyoming, 382%
3) Alaska, 346%
4) Tennessee, 320%
5) Mississippi, 314%
6) Texas, 289%
7) South Carolina, 285%
8) Alabama, 284%
9) South Dakota, 235%
10) North Dakota, 234%
In Alaska, Tennessee and Mississippi, those state’s healthcare premiums will more than quadruple!
Does anyone see any “blue” states anywhere in the top 10 with HUGE projected cost increases??? Republican voters overwhelmingly SUPPORT the healthcare subsidies that they have been getting through the ACA to help them obtain affordable healthcare for themselves and their families. If anyone in Congress thinks for even one second that republican voters in all of the “red” states above, as well as other republican majority states are going to be happy that their affordable healthcare was taken away by the maga members of Congress and will go “Yea Trump!”… they are completely delusional!
Drumph LIED to Americans when he falsely stated republicans would not touch healthcare costs in either Medicaid or Medicare!
He LIED to Americans when he falsely stated that ICE was only going to go after the “worst of the worst”!
He LIED to Americans when he falsely stated that he would end the war in Ukraine on the first day he returned to office!
He LIED to Americans when he falsely stated that the cost of groceries was “Biden’s fault” and that he would lower the cost of groceries like eggs, etc.!
He LIED to Americans when he falsely stated that he would lower the cost of gasoline in the U.S.!
He LIED to Americans when he falsely stated that he would make housing more affordable for Americans!
He LIED to Americans when he falsely stated that he would ensure those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and committed acts of violence would face justice… before he pardoned thousands of them on day 1, including those who committed heinous acts of violence on police officers!
He LIED to Americans when he falsely stated in his inaugural address that he would uphold Americans’ right to freedom of speech!
Drumph has so many other documented LIES that there isn’t time, or space to be able to properly list them all. He is a pathological liar, and morally unfit for the office he holds!
Yet, somehow, inexplicably, maga devotees think he is making America “great again???
By the way… how do you like the republicans’ plan to take your wonderful, affordable “ObamaCare” subsidies away from you???
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
“Unfortunately there are no solutions, your kids are just going to die lmao” – republicans
Florida doesn’t care how many kids have lost healthcare because kids that lost it aren’t in the womb anymore and let’s face it, florida only cares about those. The rest need to engage in capitalism the minute they’re launched out of their incubators so if your kid isn’t out in the fields picking crops at age 1 or at the very minimum being trafficked by a wealthy billionaire to an island to be sexually abused then you hate america.
Deborah Coffey says
No clue and couldn’t care less.