Florida ‘callously’ strips healthcare from thousands of children despite new law

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 489 points – Florida ‘callously’ strips healthcare from thousands of children despite new law
theguardian.com

Governor Ron DeSantis’s challenging of a ‘continuous eligibility’ rule has booted over 22,000 children off insurance since January

Florida is continuing to “callously” strip healthcare coverage from thousands of children in lower-income households in defiance of a new federal law intended to protect them.

Since 1 January, more than 22,500 children have been disenrolled from Florida KidCare, its version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip) that is jointly subsidized by states and the US government for families with earnings just above the threshold for Medicaid.

Florida healthcare officials admit at least some were removed for non-payment of premiums, an action prohibited by the “continuous eligibility” clause of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act that took effect at the beginning of this year. The clause secures 12 months of cover if at least one premium payment is made.

Last week, the administration of Republican governor Ron DeSantis challenged the rule in federal court Tampa, arguing it makes Chip an entitlement program that illegally overrides a state law requiring monthly payment of premiums.

But it has chosen not to wait for a ruling before continuing to separate children from coverage. Figures from the Florida Health Justice Project show there were 5,552 removals in the month to 1 April, following 5,097 in March, 5,147 in February, and 6,780 in January.

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The #GOP are monsters.

If you vote #GOP, you're a monster too.

Prediction: Florida will get sued in Federal Court & lose, again.

Ron Desantis is trying to kill your children!

Don't get why his opponents aren't running ads like that continuously.

Make sure they are born, so they can die to the system like normal people.

Children without health insurance rarely have the spare coin necessary to run political ads.

Liberals are over reacting AGAIN! This isn't callous. These are redundant programs. The children of Florida already get insurance through their employers. In fact Swamp Harvesters LLC has the most comprehensive children's insurance for maiming by an alligator in the country people!

not gonna lie, I thought you were legitimately posting until like the last third of your post.

This man just lives to be cruel. Given any opportunity to do something cruel, he takes it.

Must be some kind of bully complex. He desperately wants to be seen as strong, but only ever comes across as cruel. As much as I love a good chuckle on Florida Mans, I feel for them that lil’ Ronda is still in power.

Definitely a bully. Going all the way back to the "thigh food" story where he would mispronounce the word on a date and then dump the woman if she told him he was mispronouncing it back in college. And I'm sure way back before that. I'd love someone to dig up some of the kids that I'm sure he bullied in grade school.

I’d love someone to dig up some of the kids that I’m sure he bullied in grade school.

I bet his 5'2" ass was the one getting bullied.

Maybe he was the short kid who stood next to the bully and laughed at everything he did.

what should I do?

As a mod of the sub, I can't ethically support this path of discussion and advise that you tread carefully as to not run afoul of various possible interpretations of Rule 1.

As a Floridian, I upvoted that shit before I walked in the room.

It should be fine...it's clearly not a realistic depiction. No normal person could reasonably be expected to believe that a stick man that tall is Ron DeSantis.

Fuckin gottem. Although I regret not trying to draw the boots. Maybe in a future iteration

Shoot him in the gut. Wood chipper would be too quick for him.

What if the wood chipper has a pulse button like on a blender?

Unsurprising. Bans gender-affirming care but he wears heels to help him feel more masculine. Only thing he hasn't done is wear a cowboy hat (that's I've seen).

Why a cowboy hat? Has he banned those too?

He watched Porky's and decided the titular character should be emulated.

Nah, just it's the quintessential conservative costume piece when they're desperate for votes.

Welcome to Lemmy, new account!

Thanks! I've been bouncing around post-Reddit '23 on KBin and Fedia, but never really stuck anywhere. My issue is a need a big sports community, game threads were my absolute favorite part of Reddit, but the communities currently aren't big enough to really support them.

Forgive my potential lack of understanding, but when a federal law and a state law clash, isn't the federal law the winner? So if the state law requires monthly payment of premiums, but federal law requires 12 months of coverage from a single premium, Florida is supposed to be SOL?

Normally, yes.

With this supreme court? Who knows.

Yes. This is performative except for all of the children he's hurting.

For the most part, federal law will override state law. However, states have broader powers in the kinds of laws they can make, while the federal government is more limited. That's part of why the commerce clause comes up so much, it's frequently used to justify federal authority in things that would normally be handled at the state level, even if it means stretching the definition of commerce from time to time.

In this case, I'm guessing that this challenge is based on this being a program administered by the state, and partially funded by the federal government. Programs like that generally come with federal requirements that the state has to follow in order to get the funding. The federal government can exert significant influence over state policy this way, (for example, the drinking age went from 18 to 21 largely because states that didn't make the change would have lost federal funds for highways). But there have been cases where the requirements were thrown out for being too coercive and undermining constitutional authority delegated to the states.

Of course, I highly doubt that such a claim would have any merit in this case. But meritless lawsuits aren't a problem when they stir up support from your base while having no negative consequences for you if you lose. Sure, it costs the state a lot of money, but when the state's lawyers are your buddies, that's just doing them a favor.

Someone federal should "callously" charge him for mass child endangerment and "choose not to wait for a ruling" before throwing his ass in a jail cell