Florida's Medicaid Disaster: 1.3 Million Cut From Coverage, One of the Highest Disenrollment Rates in the U.S.

Between March 2023 and October 2024, Florida saw a sharp drop in Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment, going from 5.1 million to 3.8 million participants. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), that's a staggering loss of about 1.3 million people – the biggest drop seen in many states.

This all started with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in March 2020, which ensured people stayed on Medicaid throughout the pandemic, skipping the usual eligibility checks. That meant Florida's Medicaid numbers shot up from 3.8 million in early 2020 to 5.5 million by late 2022, as reported by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

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Then, in December 2022, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which separated Medicaid's continuous coverage rule from the public health emergency. That meant states could start checking eligibility again as of April 1, 2023. 

Florida's Department of Children and Families (DCF) quickly got to work reviewing cases, and by the end of 2023, more than 911,000 people – including about 420,000 children – had lost their coverage, according to Health News Florida.

On a national level, as of September 2024, over 25 million people had been disenrolled from Medicaid since the renewal process restarted. Some states, like Montana, saw disenrollment rates as high as 57%, while North Carolina's was just 12%. 

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The rate in Florida was 38%, one of the highest in the country. According to KFF, about 64% of those dropped from coverage in Florida weren't actually deemed ineligible – they just missed paperwork deadlines or had issues completing the renewal process.

This kind of procedural disenrollment can happen for all sorts of reasons – maybe a family moved and didn't get a notice in the mail, or they didn't realize they needed to reapply. 

Administrative errors have also played a role. Lynn Hearn, director of advocacy at the Florida Health Justice Project, told Health News Florida, “We are seeing a high volume of errors being made in the eligibility determinations.”

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The biggest concern is how children have been affected. Between April 2023 and April 2024, Florida saw a net drop of 647,243 kids and young adults (under 20) from Medicaid. 

While some families shifted to Florida KidCare, the state's CHIP program, that increase was only 88,409. That means many kids likely lost health coverage altogether, according to the Florida Policy Institute.

This sharp decline in Medicaid coverage leaves many Floridians vulnerable. According to KFF, Florida ranks fourth in the U.S. for the number of uninsured individuals under 65. While some may find coverage through employer plans or the insurance marketplace, many – especially kids – are at risk of falling through the cracks.

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