CHIP

Texas hospitals who are enrolled in state health plans, Medicaid and CHIP will start asking patients' immigration status in November. Florida has had a similar law since 2023.

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.

A brief from the Justice Department argues that Florida's lawsuit is “premised on several misapprehensions” about the rule and that a injunction motion should be rejected.

U.S. Judge William Jung rules federal law requires the state to go through an administrative process to challenge the guidelines. After that process, the state could take the issue to a federal appeals court.

A filing in federal court in Tampa by the Justice Department is the latest move in a battle over guidelines issued for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which operates in Florida as KidCare.

The December update shows that over 911,000 Floridians were disenrolled from Medicaid since DCF began its redetermination process in April. Of that total, about 420,000 were children.

As enrollment numbers continue to drop, Health and Human Services wrote to Florida and eight other states asking them to work with federal authorities to find solutions and get people insured again.

More than half of those removed from Medicaid were terminated for so-called “procedural,” reasons, like not responding to mail, outdated contact info or computer glitches.

Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families, says Florida officials can do a better job communicating eligibility to families who will still have benefits.