Castor, Florida Democratic Congressional Delegation Urge CMS to Protect Access to Health Coverage for Floridians

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Florida, issued the following news release:

TAMPA, FL - U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) and the entire Florida Democratic Congressional delegation urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to use every tool at its disposal to aid Florida families who are being cut off from their health coverage by the State. The delegation urges CMS to examine the substantial numbers being disenrolled from health coverage and assess whether or not the State of Florida properly follows federal rules and regulations related to Medicaid redeterminations. If they are not, CMS should take action to prevent any unnecessary and improper loss of coverage.

"Florida's Department of Children and Families (DCF) has redetermined eligibility for over 2.2 million individuals since the end of the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement. Of the nearly 675,000 individuals who have been terminated from the program, 72% of them were for procedural reasons, not because the individual was no longer eligible for the program," the lawmakers write. "We are particularly concerned that through October 2023, Florida has disenrolled 201,078 children from the Medicaid program, while the net enrollment in KidCare - Florida's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) - has only been 25,281."

"We strongly encourage CMS to investigate whether the state is complying with all federal rules and regulations regarding Medicaid redetermination," the lawmakers concluded. "If necessary, we urge you to use every tool at your disposal, including potentially exercising statutory authorities to issue corrective action plans or pause procedural terminations, to ensure the state remedies serious flaws in its redetermination process."

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Original text here: https://castor.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=404355