Florida files lawsuit against Biden administration for ‘threatening’ state’s KidCare program

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration filed a lawsuit Thursday against President Joe Biden’s administration after it urged DeSantis to expand children’s Medicaid in the state, “threatening” Florida’s KidCare Program.

“While the Biden Administration is actively working to undermine much-needed health care for kids, Florida is expanding subsidized health insurance through the Florida KidCare program, which covers checkups, dental, vision, and other health procedures,” the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration said in a statement.

The Agency for Health Care Administration filed a lawsuit against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to “fight back against this federal overreach,” the statement said.

“Biden’s bureaucrats should ask themselves, are they pro-children or blindly pro-Medicaid expansion?” they continued.

DeSantis received a letter from the Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra on Dec. 18, 2023, regarding Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, urging him to expand those federal healthcare programs in Florida.

The letter said if DeSantis does not comply, the administration would “not hesitate to take action.”

DeSantis’ Agency for Healthcare Administration filed a lawsuit against Biden’s Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services Thursday in response.

In June 2023, DeSantis signed the expansion of Florida KidCare into law to expand eligibility for children to obtain health insurance via the initiative.

That program, and especially its expansion, depends on the collection of monthly premiums.

Fundamentally, the Biden administration’s letter told DeSantis that if someone enrolls in the KidCare program, that person cannot be dis-enrolled if they fail to pay the monthly premium.

“The Biden Administration unlawfully seeks to undermine that requirement and turn the program into a free-for-all, threatening both its solvency and long-term stability,” the introduction of the lawsuit said. “Those actions threaten Florida’s expansion of the program to more children in need.”

The lawsuit said that the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services’ “new position is arbitrary and capricious because it lacks a reasoned explanation, fails to explain adequately CMS’s sudden reversal, and fails to address States’ considerable reliance interests and grandfathered programs.”

“Indeed, CMS undermines the ability of Florida and other States to expand CHIP to even more children in need,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit argued that Florida has provided subsidized health insurance for more than three decades to children in low and moderate income families who do not qualify for Medicaid. It said since 1998, the state has administered this insurance as part of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, under a federal-state partnership.

As of October 2023, Florida’s Children’s Health Insurance Program provides insurance coverage for more than 119,000 children, according to the lawsuit.

“These premiums offset program costs, ensure Florida maintains a balanced budget as required by its state constitution, and preserve Florida CHIP as a bridge between Medicaid and private insurance rather than an entitlement program,” the lawsuit said.

Part of Beccara’s letter to DeSantis read:

Because all children deserve to have access to comprehensive health coverage, I urge you to ensure that no child in your state who still meets eligibility criteria for Medicaid or CHIP loses their health coverage due to ‘red tape’ or other avoidable reasons as all states ‘unwind’ from the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision that was in place during much of the COVID-19 public health emergency. This is especially important for communities of color and underserved communities across the country – we know more than half of all children in Medicaid and CHIP are Hispanic, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, or American Indian and Alaska Native.

I am deeply alarmed that, as of September 2023, your data shows that children’s Medicaid and CHIP enrollment in your state has declined by 366,633 children or 12 percent compared to March 2023. These coverage losses account for nearly 17% percent of all children who have lost Medicaid or CHIP coverage nationwide during the renewals process so far.

The letter offered “help” to the governor by “providing flexibility to pause procedural dis-enrollments for children while it adopts other strategies to ensure eligible children remain enrolled.”