Number of Uninsured Kids in Florida Declines by 1.7 Percent

A new report by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and KidsWell Florida found the number of uninsured children declined by 1.7 percent in Florida between 2013 to 2014 — a period of time when more Floridians became eligible for new affordable coverage options through the Affordable Care Act.

The report found that approximately 378,000 Florida children did not have health coverage in 2014, down from more than 445,000 the prior year. Florida continues to rank among the worst states in the nation for the rate of children without health insurance, improving from 47th in 2013 and to 46th in 2014. Currently, 9.3 percent of Florida’s kids remain uninsured.

“Health care coverage is not only important to children’s health and well-being, it is critical to helping kids succeed in school and develop into healthy productive adults,” said Brian Kirk, KidsWell Florida Project Manager. “With an estimated 378,000 of Florida’s children still going without health insurance, there is considerable room for improvement,” said Kirk.

The report attributes the improving news for Florida kids to successful outreach and enrollment efforts related to the Affordable Care Act and to expanded Florida KidCare eligibility guidelines for low-income school-aged children.

“Florida can build on this progress by adopting another cost-effective provision of the Affordable Care Act that would close the coverage gap for Florida’s parents and improve the likelihood that more Florida children are signed up for health coverage,” said Linda Merrell, a longtime children’s health stakeholder who advocated extensively to create and fund Florida KidCare. “When parents don’t have to worry about unpaid medical bills, the whole family is more financially secure and children’s health needs are more likely to be met.”

Other findings from the report:

• As of 2014, Florida ranks 46 out of 51 (including District of Columbia) for the overall percentage of uninsured kids.
• 67,048 previously uninsured children enrolled in health coverage between 2013 and 2014, the third highest increase in the nation behind California and Texas.
• Hispanic children accounted for more than one-third (24,086) of the previously uninsured children who enrolled in a health plan between 2013 and 2014.
• The number of uninsured children in Florida declined by 43 percent between 2008 (667,758) and 2014 (377,987).

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