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Florida democrats are pushing a new constitutional amendment that would
Say every child in Florida is entitled to heath care. In a bi-partisan move today, both Republicans and Democrats said the state needs to do more to reform the Kid Care program to make sure kids who need care are getting it. Mom Tammy Thompson told lawmakers her child has been denied help over bureaucratic snafus.

“It seems like when you send your application in, you wonder is anybody really looking at it? You have everything written on your form and then you start getting all these other letters in the mail and you’re like… well, did they not read my application? The process does need to be a lot smoother. I think people need to start reading the applications more carefully.”

State lawmakers like Loranne Ausley of tallahassee also say the state needs to do more to use federal money that is available to pay for thousands of eligible children.

“There is 140 million dollars that could have gone to cover children in the state of Florida that has gone to other states. We have 500,000 children in the state of Florida who are eligible for one of these programs and they’re not being reached. We have 140 million dollars that has gone back and we have 400 million dollars available now to cover these children.” says Ausley.

Because of the federal match, Florida pays just 21 cents of every KidCare dollar… but in the past, it has chosen not to match all of the federal funds available.