A federal trial which commenced today in a Miami court could see major changes to the medical care of over 1.4 million disabled or impoverished children in Florida. The lawsuit brought on behalf of a number of children across the state, whose healthcare bills are paid for by Medicaid, claims that they have difficulty finding doctors or dentists who accept the insurance plan, wait a long time to receive medical attention and travel long distances to find participating doctors and dentists.
Miami Herald: Under the federal Social Security Act, states that accept Medicaid dollars must provide eligible children with access to reasonably prompt medical care equal to what is available to children with private insurance in the same area.
“Unfortunately, in Florida, the Medicaid program has not come close to meeting these federal requirements,” said attorney Stuart Singer with Boies, Schiller & Flexner, who is representing the children. “The Florida Legislature has for years rejected proposals from state agencies to increase reimbursement rates for healthy-kid checkups, for specialists, and for dentists, so the situation is deteriorating further.”
