Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/flanews/public_html/wp-config.php on line 34
Capitol News Service » Blog Archive » Healthcare for Immigrant Children

Welcome to

Capitol News Service

Florida's Best Political Coverage on Television

 


 


 


Recent Posts

RSS Quote of the Day

  • Charles Baudelaire
    "Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation."
  • Wilson Mizner
    "The best way to keep your friends is not to give them away."
  • Benjamin Disraeli
    "Silence is the mother of truth."
  • H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
    "Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness."

Healthcare for Immigrant Children

November 18th, 2015 by flanews

Almost four hundred thousand children don’t have access to quality health coverage here in the state, an alarming number. As Matt Galka tells us, lawmakers are trying to cut into that number with a bill that would focus on children of legal immigrants who desperately need health care.

Kids whose parents are legal immigrants are sometimes stuck when it comes to healthcare coverage.  Immigrant children have to wait five years before low-cost KidCare health insurance kicks in. United Way President Ted Granger says that’s way too long.

“Of course if you’re a one year old and you’ve got a medical problem, waiting five years is a long, long time,” he said.

Granger and other children advocates are backing a bill that would eliminate that waiting period.

Senator Rene Garcia’s (R-Hialeah) proposal cleared its second Senate committee Wednesday. He says the providing the children with health coverage is a better option than the emergency room visits families usually have to make during the five year wait period.

“It’s not an immigration issue, it’s a humanitarian issue like taking care of these children and the federal government recognized that they eliminate the five year wait period, why can’t the state of Florida do the same thing?” he said.

The bill cleared the Senate last year, but the hang-up has been in the House. The bill’s House sponsor says he’s confident he can get the proposal to the finish line this time around.

Rep. Jose Felix Diax (R-Miami) says the bill makes more financial sense this year.

“Because the federal government has come in with a 95% match, now that we only have to pay 5% that means we only pay $1.4, $1.5 million dollars, which is a rounding error in an $80 billion dollar budget,” he said.

Around 25,000 children could benefit from coverage if the bill passes. The bill would not apply to undocumented immigrants living in the state.

Posted in State News | Comments Off on Healthcare for Immigrant Children

Comments are closed.

copyright © 2016 by Capitol News Service | Powered by Wordpress | Hosted by LyonsHost.com