Florida Passes Crist's Plan To Expand Health Coverage To Uninsured Residents

The FloridaSenate on Wednesday unanimously approved a plan proposed by Gov. Charlie Crist(R) that aims to reduce the ranks of the state's 3.7 million uninsuredresidents, the Miami Herald reports (Caputo, Miami Herald, 4/17).

Theproposal would remove mandates that require insurance plans to include coverageof up to 50 services, which would allow insurers to offer stripped-down planswith premiums as low as $150 a month. Under the proposal, two tiers of coveragefor catastrophic and noncatastrophic illnesses would be available for residentswho were uninsured for the previous six months (KaiserDaily Health Policy Report, 4/10).

The state House is looking to pass a broader measure that would establish apublic-private administrator to handle coverage for businesses with fewer than50 employees. The administrator would be similar to the state's HealthyKids, which runs KidCare, the state's version of SCHIP. Details of theSenate and House bills have not been finalized (Miami Herald,4/17).

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