WLRN

By: Daylina Miller

Between 2013 and 2015, Florida and several other states increased their children insurance rate. Joan Alker, executive director at CCF and co-author of the report, attributes this progress to Medicaid and CHIP under the Affordable Care Act. However, she mentioned that Florida still has a lot of work to do, because Florida still remains under the lowest rate of insured children.

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“More parents are aware of coverage options as a result of the Affordable Care Act,” said Joan Alker, the lead author of the report from Georgetown University.

“Florida has pretty robust enrollment in the marketplace. When parents come in to enroll for those tax credits and marketplace coverage, they learn that their children are eligible for Medicaid coverage and the CHIP program.”

Alker says most children are reliable for one of those two programs — some parents just don’t know it.

“Florida still has a lot of work to do,” Alker said. “6.9 percent is quite above the national rate of 4.8 percent of uninsured children and Florida has the highest rate of uninsured children in the south, except for Texas.”

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