In the News
FDP Statement on Rick Scott Hurting Sick Kids for Campaign Cash
From Johanna Cervone, FDP Spokesperson: “Nearly two years since Rick Scott unlawfully purged thousands of children from a highly respected state Medicaid program, private insurance companies that donated millions to Governor Scott have continued to profit, but families are still reeling from the impacts of this callous policy change. Floridians want answers from Rick Scott and his self-serving administration: why did it take nearly two years to notify parents whose children were unfairly kicked off their healthcare that they could re-enroll with their former plan?”
While this story raises many new questions, one thing is clear: Governor Rick Scott risked the lives of Florida children by illegally kicking them off of the Florida Children’s Medical Service as the insurance companies that have donated millions to his campaigns continue to profit.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
By Elizabeth Cohen & Katherine Grise
August 18, 2018
Key points:
- “LJ wasn’t alone. In the spring and summer of 2015, the state switched more than 13,000 children out of a highly respected program called Children’s Medical Services, or CMS, a part of Florida Medicaid. Children on this plan have serious health problems including birth defects, heart disease, diabetes and blindness.”
- “Second, the screening tool the state used to select which children would be kicked off the program has been called “completely invalid” and “a perversion of science” by top experts in children with special health care needs.”
- “Finally, parents and Florida pediatricians raise questions about the true reasons why Florida’s Republican administration switched the children’s health plans. They question whether it was to financially reward insurance companies that had donated millions of dollars to the Republican Party of Florida.”
- “The Miami Herald declared “Judge slaps Florida for purging sick kids from treatment program.”
- “on July 24, 2017, the Florida Department of Health sent a letter to parents letting them know that their children could be screened to get back on CMS. The letter was sent to 6,081 parents whose children were removed from CMS and put on another Medicaid plan and were still on that plan and financially eligible for Medicaid…That letter was sent nearly two years after the judge’s decision. Pediatricians say they’re angry it took that long to directly let parents know about the possibility of getting back on CMS.”
Read the full article here.
See also: Miami Herald: Bitter pill: How Florida rations care for frail kids Miami Herald: Judge slaps Florida for purging sick kids from treatment program