The state Senate and House are moving forward with a plan that is expected to lead to thousands of additional children receiving subsidized health insurance coverage through the KidCare program.
The Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved its version of the bill (SB 246), filed by Sen. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami. The full House is scheduled to take up its version (HB 121) on Thursday.
Under KidCare, families who do not qualify for Medicaid can pay $15 or $20 a month in premiums to insure children.
Subsidized coverage is available to families with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $60,000 for a family of four, according to a House staff analysis. The bills would increase that threshold to 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
The proposals come as many families will be dropped in the coming months from Medicaid because of the end of a “public health emergency” that the federal government declared in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic began.
As part of the emergency, Washington agreed to pick up more of the tab for Medicaid, which is jointly funded by states and the federal government. In exchange for the extra money, states had to agree that they wouldn’t drop people from the Medicaid rolls during the emergency.
Florida’s Medicaid program has grown from nearly 3.8 million beneficiaries in January 2020 to about 5.75 million beneficiaries last month, at least in part because people who might not otherwise be eligible for coverage could not be dropped.
The KidCare program also receives federal funding as part of what is known as the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Chairwoman Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, called the proposed eligibility expansion “a great step forward for our children and our families.”