| 1 | The Health & Families Council recommends the following: |
| 2 |
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| 3 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 | A bill to be entitled |
| 6 | An act relating to the Florida KidCare program; amending |
| 7 | s. 409.8132, F.S.; providing for year-round enrollment in |
| 8 | the Medikids program component of the Florida KidCare |
| 9 | program; amending s. 409.8134, F.S.; providing for year- |
| 10 | round enrollment in the Florida KidCare program; providing |
| 11 | a time period for the validity of an application; |
| 12 | providing an effective date. |
| 13 |
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| 14 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 15 |
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| 16 | Section 1. Subsection (7) of section 409.8132, Florida |
| 17 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 18 | 409.8132 Medikids program component.-- |
| 19 | (7) ENROLLMENT.--Enrollment in the Medikids program |
| 20 | component may only occur at any time throughout the year during |
| 21 | periodic open enrollment periods as specified in s. 409.8134. A |
| 22 | child may not receive services under the Medikids program until |
| 23 | the child is enrolled in a managed care plan or MediPass. Once |
| 24 | determined eligible, an applicant may receive choice counseling |
| 25 | and select a managed care plan or MediPass. The agency may |
| 26 | initiate mandatory assignment for a Medikids applicant who has |
| 27 | not chosen a managed care plan or MediPass provider after the |
| 28 | applicant's voluntary choice period ends. An applicant may |
| 29 | select MediPass under the Medikids program component only in |
| 30 | counties that have fewer than two managed care plans available |
| 31 | to serve Medicaid recipients and only if the federal Health Care |
| 32 | Financing Administration determines that MediPass constitutes |
| 33 | "health insurance coverage" as defined in Title XXI of the |
| 34 | Social Security Act. |
| 35 | Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 409.8134, Florida |
| 36 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 37 | 409.8134 Program enrollment and expenditure ceilings.-- |
| 38 | (2) Upon a unanimous recommendation by representatives |
| 39 | from each of the four Florida KidCare administrators, The |
| 40 | Florida KidCare program may conduct an open enrollment at any |
| 41 | time throughout the year period for the purpose of enrolling |
| 42 | children eligible for all program components listed in s. |
| 43 | 409.813 except Medicaid. The four Florida KidCare administrators |
| 44 | shall work together to ensure that the year-round open |
| 45 | enrollment period is announced statewide at least 1 month before |
| 46 | the open enrollment is to begin. Eligible children shall be |
| 47 | enrolled on a first-come, first-served basis using the date the |
| 48 | open enrollment application is received. The potential open |
| 49 | enrollment periods shall be January 1st through January 30th and |
| 50 | September 1st through September 30th. Open Enrollment shall |
| 51 | immediately cease when the enrollment ceiling is reached. Year- |
| 52 | round An open enrollment shall only be held if the Social |
| 53 | Services Estimating Conference determines that sufficient |
| 54 | federal and state funds will be available to finance the |
| 55 | increased enrollment through federal fiscal year 2007. Any |
| 56 | individual who is not enrolled, including those added to the |
| 57 | waiting list after March 11, 2004, must reapply by submitting a |
| 58 | new application during the next open enrollment period. The |
| 59 | application for the Florida KidCare program shall be valid for a |
| 60 | period of 120 days after the date it was received. At the end of |
| 61 | the 120-day period, if the applicant has not been enrolled in |
| 62 | the program, the application shall be invalid and the applicant |
| 63 | shall be notified of the action. The applicant may resubmit the |
| 64 | application after notification of the action taken by the |
| 65 | program. However, the Children's Medical Services Network may |
| 66 | annually enroll up to 120 additional children based on emergency |
| 67 | disability criteria outside of the open enrollment periods, and |
| 68 | the cost of serving these children must be managed within the |
| 69 | KidCare program's appropriated or authorized levels of funding. |
| 70 | Except for the Medicaid program, whenever the Social Services |
| 71 | Estimating Conference determines that there are is presently, or |
| 72 | will be by the end of the current fiscal year, insufficient |
| 73 | funds to finance the current or projected enrollment in the |
| 74 | Florida KidCare program, all additional enrollment must cease |
| 75 | and additional enrollment may not resume until sufficient funds |
| 76 | are available to finance such enrollment. |
| 77 | Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law. |