Tallahassee Democrat: KidCare Wins

Lawmakers avoided a big error

Florida lawmakers stepped back from the brink Friday and, to their credit, did not scuttle a bill that would make it easier for low-income working families without health insurance to buy KidCare insurance for their youngsters.

The legislation's bipartisan sponsors, Sen. Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, and Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, succeeded in persuading the Florida House to remove some administrative barriers from this state-federal health insurance program that is paid for mostly by federal dollars.

SB918, which goes now to Gov. Charlie Crist for his almost certain signature, would decrease the time that working families who have lost private health insurance must wait before switching to KidCare. It also shortens the length of time they must wait to reapply if they've been dropped from the program for failing to pay the small monthly premium, about $20 per child.

The legislation also increases outreach efforts so eligible families — those earning about 200 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $44,000 for a family of four — will know about the program.

House members finally saw that there would be no additional budget burden from the bill, because an extra $15 million in state money available for KidCare in Florida has gone unspent — largely because of the complicated enrollment processes SB918 addresses.

There is certainly no shortage of children who need insurance — more than 800,000 Florida children have none, including about 3,000 in Leon County. KidCare now reaches about 176,000 children, providing them with quality medical and dental coverage. With the passage of this bill, Florida will see an increase in federal matching money, enough to cover an additional 46,000 Florida children.

Mr. Crist's signature will help the program to do the good work it was created to do.

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	Senator Rich Addressing Seniors at the Daniel Canter Senior Center
	Nan Rich with Gradutes of Weston University
	Senator Rich with the Final Graduting Class of Weston University 2010

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