Florida's chronically ill kids could lose Medicaid coverage on Easter Sunday
TAMPA - Some of Florida’s most sick kids could lose Medicaid coverage on or before Easter Sunday this weekend.
The state is canceling their coverage based on the premise that they are no longer eligible. When the pandemic ended last year, Florida began removing people after changes in the criteria, and they’ve been doing this in phases, but now removing children with complex medical conditions.
Since April of last year, 460,000 kids in Florida have lost Medicaid coverage -- 1.3 million patients in total.
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"For kids like this, regular insurance - employer or marketplace - just doesn't begin to cover the extent of their medical needs," said Miriam Harmatz, with the Florida Health Justice Project. "These children cannot go a single day without coverage. Some of them have feeding tubes, very expensive medications, and many or most have 24/7 nursing. So you think about -- what are the parents supposed to do? Do you stay home from work and try to cobble it together, or go to work and put your child at risk?"
Her nonprofit, The Florida Health Justice Project, says they’ve seen a huge uptick in calls from panicked parents over the last two weeks.
U.S. Secretary of Health Xavier Becerra claims at least some are being removed due to paperwork errors, but many parents this week are saying they didn’t find out about the upcoming loss of coverage until just days before, not allowing time to fix any issues. Patients are supposed to get 45 days’ notice of pending cancellation.
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But the Florida Health Justice Project says you can appeal. They have information on their website about the appeals process, and about helping children with complex medical needs.
"By law, your child is entitled to continuous coverage under Medicaid pending the outcome of the appeal," said Harmatz.
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