HB 1523

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the Florida KidCare program; providing
3	an appropriation; providing an effective date.
4
5	WHEREAS, the Florida KidCare program was created by the
6	Legislature in 1998 as a public-private partnership that offers
7	working families the opportunity to purchase low-cost health
8	care for their children, and
9	WHEREAS, the Florida KidCare program is a proven effective
10	program serving over 1.5 million children under age 19, and
11	WHEREAS, the health and well-being of our children are of
12	highest priority, and ensuring that children are provided
13	adequate health care is a fundamental family value, and
14	WHEREAS, providing children health insurance is a prudent
15	financial investment, relieving a burden on the state's over-
16	crowded emergency rooms, providing to the state's schools a
17	healthy child who is better able to learn, and enabling parents
18	to be more productive in their jobs, and
19	WHEREAS, the Federal Government pays over 70 percent of the
20	cost of the Florida KidCare program for Title-XXI-eligible
21	children, and
22	WHEREAS, Medicaid and Title XXI spending has a significant
23	impact on the state's economy, generating a rate of return for
24	fiscal year 2001 of $2.82 per dollar invested in Medicaid,
25	creating new business activity, jobs, and wages, and
26	WHEREAS, Congress provided this state with $413 million in
27	additional Medicaid dollars in 2003, with the intent that it be
28	used for health care and an additional $132 million in State
29	Children's Health Insurance Program federal funds in February of
30	2004, and
31	WHEREAS, the 2003 Legislature froze the enrollment for the
32	Florida KidCare program, creating a waiting list of over 100,000
33	Title-XXI-eligible and non-Title-XXI-eligible children, NOW,
34	THEREFORE,
35
36	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
37
38	Section 1.  There is hereby appropriated from the General
39	Revenue Fund, the Agency for Health Care Administration Tobacco
40	Settlement Trust Fund, the Department of Health Tobacco
41	Settlement Trust Fund, and the Health Care Trust Fund to the
42	Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of
43	Health an amount sufficient to fully fund the Florida KidCare
44	program for the remainder of this year and for fiscal year 2004-
45	2005, providing coverage for all Title-XXI-eligible and non-
46	Title-XXI-eligible children, including immediate coverage for
47	the 2003-2004 waiting list as of the effective date of this act,
48	eligible children for the remainder of the 2003-2004 fiscal
49	year, future growth in the program, and future price level
50	increases.
51	Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.