Kids, dentists, hospitals to benefit from Crist health plan
19 02 08 - 14:31
By PHIL GALEWITZ
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist today released initiatives designed to reduce the number of Floridians without health insurance, including a plan he said would have insurers offer coverage for $150 a month-or less than half the cost of typical individual policy.
Crist also called for allowing hospitals to be built in Florida without a lengthy regulatory process, ease the financial burden of a government-funded childrens' health insurance program and increase the number of dentists serving Medicaid clients.
Unlike some other states' reform plans, Crist is not seeking a mandate that individuals buy health insurance. The plan is not requiring that employers provide coverage to their workers. Instead, Crists's Cover Florida Health Access Act calls for the state to negotiate with private insurers to develop health plans.
Coverage would be available to any adult uninsured resident.
The plan would require a "robust package of preventive primary and urgent care benefits, including hospitalization," according to Crist. Crist's proposal would allow insurers to offer policies without state-mandated benefits. Parents could keep grown children on their policies until age 30.
Crist also wants to remove limits on the number of children who pay the full cost of Florida KidCare. Under his plan, all children in the state would be eligible to buy health insurance through KidCare, a government-funded program. To increase the number of dentists serving Medicaid enrollees, Crist wants to increase dentists' Medicaid reimbursement by 23 percent. Currently, half the counties in Florida have only one dentist who accepts Medicaid patients and 25 percent of Florida counties have none.
Crist also is calling for lifting the income requirements of a 4-year-old state program called Health Flex, which allows insurers and local governments to offer low-cost, "bare bones" type health plans. Currently the income limit is 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or $20,800 for an individual.
Crist also wants to abolish a lengthy regulatory review process hospitals must go through in order to expand. It can take years to complete. Martin Memorial Medical Center has been trying to build a hospital in St. Lucie County for nearly a decade, but has been stymied by the legal and regulatory hurdles.
Underlining the governor's proposals is the growing number of uninsured in Florida. Currently, about 3.8 million are without insurance. An estimated 250,000 in Palm Beach County don't have coverage.