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After the lifting of coverage protections due to the pandemic, there are 4.16 million fewer children enrolled in health care programs covered by the United States government, 600,000 of whom live in Florida, a Georgetown University study found.
The study published by the Center for Children and Families and Research indicates that Florida ranks second, after Texas, among the states that reflect the greatest decline in enrollment in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
In Texas alone, more than a million children lost coverage when that state lifted pandemic-related requirements that kept people enrolled in Medicaid.
Researchers could not determine, however, how many of the children left out after the cancellation of these health care programs “ultimately became uninsured.”
Joan Alker, executive director of the Center for Children and Families and a research professor at the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy, said there is concern that a “substantial” number of children may have been left uninsured.
“Because they administer Medicaid and CHIP, the nation's governors, and to some extent their legislatures, are ultimately responsible for how millions of children fare during this process,” she Alker warned.
To help ease “the transition from post-pandemic to traditional Medicaid operations,” the federal government offered states flexibility, but Florida did not take advantage of any of those options, Ella Alker said.
The analysis shows that 3 million 93 thousand 191 children were enrolled in Medicaid in April 2023 before the cancellation process.
And in December 2023 there were 2,503,520 enrolled, which means 589,671 fewer children, or a reduction of 19%.
South Dakota, Montana and Utah experienced percentage drops of 25% or more in the Medicaid and CHIP programs, while Texas, Idaho, Arkansas and New Hampshire had percentage drops of 20% or more.
The Department of Children and Families, which determines eligibility for Medicaid, defended the cancellation process after the analysis was published.
The agency's deputy chief of staff, Mallory McManus, told Florida Politics that the outreach strategy “goes beyond federal requirements,” resulting in a 40% higher response rate compared to previous levels. to the pandemic.
“Any idea that Florida has failed in this process is false. Children Medical Services has required states that have been found to be out of compliance to pause their processes until the problems are fixed. Florida has never been one of those states,” she said.
She added that Florida has not only met all federal requirements, they have exceeded them.
“It is difficult to imagine what additional steps the state could take beyond the extensive measures already in place to support these individuals through the process,” McManus wrote in a lengthy statement to Florida Politics.
