KidCare

A move to expand access to health insurance for more low-income Florida kids has been on hold for years as a lawsuit between the state and federal governments moves through the courts.

A state agency may have underestimated the number of children removed from subsidized health insurance in Florida, according to a report by the Florida Phoenix.

Last of a four-part series: Legislators passed a public health insurance expansion that would help poor and disabled children get better coverage over a year ago, but funds remain unused.

Part 3 of a series: Kicked off of Medicaid, Florida children with medically complex needs are offered a state insurance program designed for healthy kids who cannot provide the care they require.

Part 2 in a series: After thousands of families lost Medicaid, many enrolled their children with complex needs in Florida Healthy Kids, a state insurance plan that wasn’t meant to cover their special care.

Part 1: Thousands of Florida children with complex ailments lost Medicaid during the unwinding and ended up on a plan not designed to provide the coverage they need.

The dispute centers on part of the rule preventing states from cutting off coverage for non-payment of premiums after children have been found eligible for the program. Eligibility is determined each year, so the state contends the rule could lead to coverage being provided for months without premiums being paid.

Florida officials are delaying the implementation of new rules for Florida’s subsidized children’s health insurance, also known as KidCare, so the incoming presidential administration can weigh in.

CMS finally accepted Florida’s application for a waiver, but with the stipulation that the state provides 12 months of continuous coverage. But the state doesn't want to accept the agency's requirements.

Florida KidCare, a childhood insurance option for some parents who lost coverage, is failing to offset the coverage gap left by the Medicaid unwinding.

The judge dismissed the state's lawsuit against two federal agencies and said the case should instead be an administrative challenge. Next stop is the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

Both states want to expand eligibility for the CHIP, but their approaches to charging low-income families premiums for the coverage showcase the nation’s ideological divide on helping the disadvantaged.