October 26, 2012
By Kristine Crane
The number of uninsured children has dropped in Florida, but the state still has one of the highest numbers of uninsured kids in the country, according to a national study released this week.
The study, conducted by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, found a 2.9 percent drop in Florida’s uninsured children between 2009 and 2011, which was the third-steepest decline of all states. Florida followed Oregon and Texas, where the uninsured fell 3.1 percent.
“Last year and this year, Florida has one of the sharpest reductions,” said Joan Alker, one of the study’s authors and co-executive director of Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families. “That’s good news for kids in Florida, but there’s still a long way to go.”
Florida still has the third-highest number of uninsured children of all states, with 8.6 percent of the nation’s total, or 475,112 kids. Half of the country’s uninsured children live in six states, with the other five being Texas, California, Georgia, Arizona and New York.
Alker says more children eligible for and enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (known as KidCare in Florida) account for the decline in the number of uninsured children — even though only 80 percent of eligible children in Florida are actually enrolled.
“There can be a lot of red tape to enroll in Medicaid and Healthy Kids and to stay in the coverage,” Alker said. Healthy Kids, a KidCare partner, offers insurance to children ages 5-18. “States need to do a better job of ensuring that families are aware that this coverage is available to them,” she said.
Florida is below the national average and the average for states in the South for enrolling eligible children, Alker continued. “I think the state has not made this a top priority. Alabama and Louisiana have done a better job.”
Laura Goodhue, the executive director of Florida CHAIN (Community Health Action Information Network), said most of the state’s Medicaid recipients are children.
“The program has certainly worked for kids,” Goodhue said. “However, we’ve definitely seen cuts in recent years to the program. It’s been incorrectly scapegoated as hurting our budget.”
Both at the national and state level, most uninsured children reside in metropolises and rural areas. In Florida, Miami-Dade County has the highest number of uninsured children, with about 17.3 percent of the state’s total, according to 2009 U.S. census data. Alachua County has 1 percent of the state’s uninsured children, and Marion County has 2 percent, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families.