ALERT: Tell FL Senators Kids Need Health Care NOW

Every parent should be able to call a doctor in the middle of the night if their child is sick. But 800,000 of Florida's children go without health insurance every day.

Hundreds of thousands of these children could enroll in the state's KidCare health insurance plan. But the program is burdensome and complicated, and too many families enroll only to lose coverage down the road due to unnecessary barriers.

Fortunately, SB 918 has been filed in the Florida legislature, to fix all the administrative barriers that keep eligible children from KidCare coverage.

Take just a moment to tell the Senate Health Regulation Committee and Senate leadership that Florida's low-income eligible children need this bill placed on the agenda now. They, and this bill, deserve our senators' support.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Support SB 918 for Children's Health

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Every parent should be able to call a doctor in the middle of the night if their child is sick. But 800,000 of Florida's children go without health insurance every day.

Therefore, I am writing to urge you to act quickly to agenda and pass SB 918 in the Health Regulation Committee.

This bill will help make KidCare a more cost effective and efficient program, with the needed administrative changes to help families enroll eligible low income children and to prevent these children from losing their coverage unnecessarily.

SB 918 will:

* Reduce the KidCare wait period for late premium payments from 60 days to 30 days to prevent uninsured children from losing coverage.

* Provide for electronic verification of income when possible to expedite health care coverage for eligible children. The current verification process causes increased delays in children getting health care coverage.

* Reduce the wait period for children with other insurance from 6 months to 2 months. Provides for good cause exemptions to the wait period allowing children to receive vital health care coverage sooner.

* Provide continuous eligibility in Medicaid as in other KidCare program components to help maintain health care coverage for low income children. (This provision would also help Florida to better quality for SCHIP performance bonuses for streamlining enrollment and retention procedures)

*Create a seamless transition - continuity of care - from Medicaid to Healthy Kids, MediKids, or KidCare plus (Children's Medical Services Network, CMS) without interrupting coverage. Children would be presumed eligible for up to 60 days to allow parents to adjust to their premium payment. Currently, thousands of children lose all coverage each month when their income changes slightly or they age out of Medicaid.

Please help Florida's low-income families provide health coverage for their already eligible children. Florida cannot afford to have them do without needed care because of administrative glitches. Now is the time to fix these unnecessary lapses, with SB 918.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
March 14, 2009

Background Information

Fixing Florida KidCare Glitches a High Priority for 2009 Legislative Session

Florida’s state child health insurance program, KidCare, has successfully provided health care coverage for millions of uninsured children in Florida over the last ten years. Yet the program's complex administrative structure, and a series of policy changes, have made it extremely difficult for families to enroll children or maintain their child’s health care coverage.

It is critical for child health care advocates to now focus on the much needed administrative Florida KidCare changes and to work with leadership to place Florida in a position to take advantage of the numerous opportunities – both program and financial – available under SCHIP.

Fortunately, this year, the proposed KidCare bills, SB 918 by Senator Nan Rich, and HB 1329 by Representative Jimmy Patronis address the administrative changes necessary to increase enrollment and improve the state’s poor retention rates. The proposed bills also place Florida in a better position to take advantage of the opportunities offered under the Congressional State Child Health Insurance Reauthorization Act.

Key administrative changes needed:

Reduce the KidCare wait period for late premium payments from 60 days to 30 days to prevent uninsured children from losing coverage.

Provide for electronic verification of income when possible to expedite health care coverage for eligible children. The current verification process causes increased delays in children getting health care coverage.

Reduce the wait period for children with other insurance from 6 months to 2 months. Provides for good cause exemptions to the wait period allowing children to receive vital health care coverage sooner.

Provide continuous eligibility in Medicaid as in other KidCare program components to help maintain health care coverage for low income children. (This provision would also help Florida to better quality for SCHIP performance bonuses for streamlining enrollment and retention procedures)

Create a seamless transition - continuity of care - from Medicaid to Healthy Kids, MediKids, or KidCare plus (Children's Medical Services Network, CMS) without interrupting coverage. Children would be presumed eligible for up to 60 days to allow parents to adjust to their premium payment. Currently, thousands of children lose all coverage each month when their income changes slightly or they age out of Medicaid.

SB 918 includes all of these administrative changes. However, HB 1329 does not include the very important seamless continuity of coverage between Medicaid and Title XXI programs due to the fiscal impact.

Although the projected costs for transition from Medicaid was high in the past, recent analysis indicate that the transfer of children currently enrolled in Medicaid with income verification is markedly lower than past estimates, a little less than 3,000.

Florida's child health care advocates should be encouraged this year:

Legislative leadership and the Governor have stated their commitment and support for the KidCare program this session.
The Governor’s budget provides an additional $52 million in funding for an additional 46,000 eligible uninsured children this year.
The federal allotment for Florida’s KidCare is generous and ample.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allows Florida to take advantage of the Federal Medical Assistance Percentages -FMAP- increases.

Florida can and should pass these good bills that create a simplified, efficient and cost effective KidCare Program to maximize federal dollars and increase coverage for low income uninsured children.