A governor's task force recommends a high-risk coverage pool and changes to KidCare.
By Associated Press
Published January 10, 2004
ORLANDO - Just over 7 percent of the 2.8-million Floridians without health insurance would be placed into a high-risk coverage pool under a recommendation given preliminary approval Friday by a state task force.
The Governor's Task Force on Access to Affordable Health Insurance made nine other preliminary recommendations. Those included letting only the most needy qualify for a state health insurance program for children, creating insurance pools for small employers to leverage price negotiations with insurers and making it easier for consumers to compare health care prices.
"Is it bold enough? I'm not sure ... but there is no silver bullet," said Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings, who chaired the task force with Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher.
The task force will likely give final approval to the recommendations in February. They will go to Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature.
The creation of a "high-risk" pool would give coverage to 20,000 of the hardest-to-insure Floridians.
In one scenario, the $53-million cost of the coverage would be paid with $30-million collected from a tax on insurance premiums that now goes to the general revenue fund, plus $23-million from premiums. The pool also would include people who are insured individually, rather than in a group, to help offset the costs of insuring the people considered uninsurable because of medical or other reasons.
Some task force members said creating the high-risk pool could have a ripple effect that would bring down health insurance rates for others, because there would be a reduction in uncompensated care costs in the larger state population.
The board also gave preliminary approval to increasing the available slots for KidCare, a state and federally financed health insurance program. But under the proposal, only the poorest children would be eligible.
Now, almost 70,000 of the program's 276,000 children qualify for some coverage from their parents' employers, but those parents choose KidCare because it's cheaper. At the same time, the program has a waiting list of more than 70,000 children.
"If that wasn't there, there wouldn't be a waiting list," Jennings said of the children eligible for other insurance. "KidCare was created for children who don't have anything."
Members also endorsed requiring health care providers and insurers to make it easier for consumers to compare prices by standardizing insurance policy forms and making information on prices easily available.
