Senate Bill sb2504

    Florida Senate - 2004                                  SB 2504

    By Senator Hill





    1-1879A-04                                         See HB 1523

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the Florida KidCare program;

  3         providing an appropriation; providing an

  4         effective date.

  5  

  6         WHEREAS, the Florida KidCare program was created by the

  7  Legislature in 1998 as a public-private partnership that

  8  offers working families the opportunity to purchase low-cost

  9  health care for their children, and

10         WHEREAS, the Florida KidCare program is a proven

11  effective program serving over 1.5 million children under age

12  19, and

13         WHEREAS, the health and well-being of our children are

14  of highest priority, and ensuring that children are provided

15  adequate health care is a fundamental family value, and

16         WHEREAS, providing children health insurance is a

17  prudent financial investment, relieving a burden on the

18  state's over-crowded emergency rooms, providing to the state's

19  schools a healthy child who is better able to learn, and

20  enabling parents to be more productive in their jobs, and

21         WHEREAS, the Federal Government pays over 70 percent of

22  the cost of the Florida KidCare program for Title-XXI-eligible

23  children, and

24         WHEREAS, Medicaid and Title XXI spending has a

25  significant impact on the state's economy, generating a rate

26  of return for fiscal year 2001 of $2.82 per dollar invested in

27  Medicaid, creating new business activity, jobs, and wages, and

28         WHEREAS, Congress provided this state with $413 million

29  in additional Medicaid dollars in 2003, with the intent that

30  it be used for health care and an additional $132 million in

31  

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






    Florida Senate - 2004                                  SB 2504
    1-1879A-04                                         See HB 1523




 1  State Children's Health Insurance Program federal funds in

 2  February of 2004, and

 3         WHEREAS, the 2003 Legislature froze the enrollment for

 4  the Florida KidCare program, creating a waiting list of over

 5  100,000 Title-XXI-eligible and non-Title-XXI-eligible

 6  children, NOW, THEREFORE,

 7  

 8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

 9  

10         Section 1.  There is hereby appropriated from the

11  General Revenue Fund, the Agency for Health Care

12  Administration Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund, the Department

13  of Health Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund, and the Health Care

14  Trust Fund to the Agency for Health Care Administration and

15  the Department of Health an amount sufficient to fully fund

16  the Florida KidCare program for the remainder of this year and

17  for fiscal year 2004-2005, providing coverage for all

18  Title-XXI-eligible and non-Title-XXI-eligible children,

19  including immediate coverage for the 2003-2004 waiting list as

20  of the effective date of this act, eligible children for the

21  remainder of the 2003-2004 fiscal year, future growth in the

22  program, and future price level increases.

23         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

24  law.

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