Under Florida law, children who are born outside the United States and live here legally must wait five years to qualify for the subsidized health insurance known as Florida Kidcare. Two Republican Miami-Dade lawmakers are proposing a bill to change that during this year's Legislative session.
Florida lawmakers will consider the bill during this year’s legislative session, which starts on March 4th. It used to be a federal requirement for legal residents to wait five years to get their child covered under Florida KidCare. But now it’s open to the states.The Florida Association of Community Health Centers supports the bill.
Andrew Berhman is the president of the association. He says even though passing the bill would cost the state about $27 million, it could still save Florida a lot of money.
“The real issue is gaining access to care into a medical home model so that a child does not have to wait until they’re very very very sick to go into the emergency room", said Berhman. "The cost in the emergency room is probably the highest cost of any kind of health care you can get.”
The bill is sponsored by Senator Rene Garcia from Hialeah and Representative Jose Felix Diaz from Miami. It would open KidCare to an estimated 26,000 children in Florida. That’s according to state numbers.