Health insurance prospects for Florida kids are not improving, despite pushes to increase coverage rates in the state.

Florida continues to deny and unenroll children from programs meant for low-income families - despite a federal law prohibiting states from canceling insurance for kids, even if families don't pay the premium over a 12 month period.

Executive Director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families Joan Alker said this is part of a pattern for Florida.

"Unfortunately," said Alker, "the state is distinguishing itself these days with being one of the most hostile states in the country, if not the most hostile state, to the notion that children should have access to health insurance."

Florida challenged the continuous coverage law but a federal judge dismissed the case in May. The state had argued that the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid went too far with the law.

The state has also denied coverage in other ways.

During the Medicaid unwinding in 2023, when COVID-related coverage protections were lifted, Florida saw the second-largest decline in the number of children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program - at a drop of nearly 600,000.

The state's coverage program for families that don't qualify for Medicaid is called KidCare.

During the Medicaid unwinding period, families struggled. Mandi Rokx's two kids were kicked off Medicaid during the unwinding, and she said it took six months to get them coverage from KidCare.

"I tried calling the Department of Children and Families, and I tried calling the health care provider that they were with previously," said Rokx. "And nobody could give me any answers. And it was kind of one those things where when I would finally get a human being on the phone, I was told that they couldn't do anything for me. And I spent literal hours on phone calls, which is not easy when you have toddlers."

Alker said there is a built-in gap in coverage for families who have to switch from Medicaid to KidCare, and that's unique to Florida.

"This is truly terrible," said Alker. "You do not want a baby to be uninsured. You do not want any child to have a gap in coverage. It doesn't matter how long it is - things happen to kids all the time. Parents know this."

Free school lunch and breakfast may soon be the law in the Commonwealth.

House Bill 1958 would require local school boards to participate in federal school lunch and breakfast programs through the Department of Agriculture. The programs make school lunches and breakfasts available to any student who asks for one.

Some schools are already taking part in the programs but the legislation would make it a requirement statewide.

Emily Hardy, deputy director of the Center for Healthy Communities at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said there is a need for expanded free school meals across the state.

"Almost 400,000 kids would qualify financially currently to get school breakfast that don't," Hardy reported. "We do know there are a lot of children in Virginia who are food insecure, but aren't currently getting the service in their school."

Nearly 1.3 million Virginia children are currently enrolled in public schools across the Commonwealth.

Research from No Kid Hungry suggested free school breakfast also cuts down on rates of chronic absenteeism, where students miss 10% or more of the academic year.

Hardy noted sometimes, a free school meal could come with a stigma for students. A blanket policy, she added, can also help other parents, not just those in a tough financial position.

"Reducing stigma, making it so that all children have access to this, it both helps parents who could afford to pay for meals but maybe don't have the time to make them, or are struggling with other things," Hardy emphasized. "It also helps those children who are low-income, who then don't have to face the stigma of being the only kid getting the free meal."

Other states have already taken steps to provide blanket school meals to students, including in Minnesota, New Mexico and Maine.

Finding appropriate placements for youths entering Ohio's child welfare system has become increasingly difficult.

Rachel Reedy, outreach and member engagement manager for the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, said the complex needs of children in the system, ranging from behavioral and mental health care to justice involvement, require specialized placements, which can drive up costs.

"Across the state, we have just heard more and more about the challenges in finding affordable, accessible and appropriate placements for our youths coming into our child welfare system," Reedy reported.

The challenges are compounded by rising costs, even as fewer children are entering care. County commissioners play a critical role in funding child welfare through a combination of federal, state and local dollars, including property tax levies in some areas.

A lack of trained professionals is another significant obstacle. Reedy elaborated on the capacity challenges within the system.

"We need workforce supports as well," Reedy urged. "When you do not have enough workforce in the system and facilities available, that leads to these capacity challenges, which, in a sense, drives up the cost."

She highlighted initiatives at the state level, such as efforts to encourage students to pursue careers in social work and human services. However, the solutions take time, underscoring the urgency for collaboration at all levels. Reedy added addressing the challenges requires a united effort from local communities, state leaders and lawmakers to ensure every child receives the care they need.


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In his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. condemned the poverty hindering Black Americans' rights and decades later, a new report found children of color still bear the weight of poverty.

The analysis by the Economic Policy Institute showed in 2023, Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native children were three times more likely than their white peers to live in poverty. In Missouri, there's a nearly 17% child poverty rate, just above the national average revealing risks to children's overall well-being.

Ismael Cid-Martinez, economist at the Economic Policy Institute and the report's co-author, said a major cause centers around employment disparities.

"Black workers are more likely than their non-Hispanic white peers to be unemployed," Cid-Martinez reported. "Then when they do obtain some form of employment in the labor market, they're likely to earn less than their peers."

The report also revealed Asian children are twice as likely as their white peers to live in poverty. Cid-Martinez stressed a key solution is implementing policies to ensure the social safety net effectively addresses the material needs of families.

According to the report, the expanded Child Tax Credit cut poverty for children of color by half from 2019 to 2021, lifting more than 700,000 Black children and 1 million Hispanic children out of poverty. However, the gains largely vanished when lawmakers did not extend the tax credit.

Cid-Martinez emphasized stronger unions in the labor market would help.

"Unions help ensure that working parents have jobs where they have the necessary benefits and the flexibility of hours that they need to provide care for children," Cid-Martinez noted.

Recent data showed Black Missourians face a 13.1% unemployment rate, nearly five times higher than white residents. Cid-Martinez added poverty figures reflect economic progress, highlighting King's dream of economic equality remains unfulfilled.


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