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Make Kidcare accessible again
A Times Editorial
Published March 22, 2005
Jeb Bush and the Republican-led Legislature last year made some dubious changes they said would protect Kidcare, the federal-state program that subsidizes health coverage for low-income children. Convinced that too many ineligible families were pushing the program beyond its budget, they required more paperwork from parents and constricted the time periods for enrollment.
It's one year later, and their changes are creating havoc in reverse.
Kidcare today has 100,000 fewer kids and is accumulating too many unspent dollars. At the current rate, Florida may have $146.5-million in unspent funds by June 30 - money it would have to return to the feds for redistribution to other states more willing to cover their uninsured children.
Such a prospect doesn't sit well with Republican senator and physician Durrell Peaden.
"We don't need to let that money go back to Washington," said Peaden, R-Crestview, who chairs the Senate Health Care Committee. "It's time to do the job. We've got the money. Find the kids."
Peaden's right. Retaining the 2004 changes would continue to hurt children along with the state's coffers. Florida can either insure its low-income kids with the help of federal dollars or pay, out of its own pocket, for emergency-room care, lost productivity and the other costs of doing nothing.
Peaden's committee has unanimously signed off on a Kidcare fix that makes both human and fiscal sense and deserves support. Sponsored in the Senate by Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, the bill would return Kidcare to a year-round enrollment, from the current practice of limiting it to two months a year.
"The limits on when a parent can enroll a child or children have been a huge problem. Not every child becomes eligible on the schedule set by the governor and Legislature," said Andrea L. Moore, director of the statewide advocacy group Florida's Children First.
Lawmakers need to return Kidcare to its original intent. Kidcare was designed to maximize both coverage for needy children and federal-funding participation for Florida. Last year's changes, as it turns out, are maximizing neither.
[Last modified March 22, 2005, 01:21:16]
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