FW: New KidCare Policy to Prevent Kids From Losing KidCare Coverage

[Guest guest]

From: Randee

Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 3:16 PM

To: Randee

Subject: New KidCare Policy to Prevent Kids From Losing KidCare Coverage

ALERT!

NEW

POLICY TO PREVENT KIDS FROM LOSING

(OR NOT GETTING) KIDCARE COVERAGE

Over the past few months, thousands of Florida

children have been disenrolled from their KidCare coverage by mistake. The

reason for this is that the change to a new company that handles KidCare

paperwork has been difficult.

On October 23rd, children’s health

advocates sent a letter to the Board of Directors of the Healthy Kids Corporation,

which runs the parts of KidCare (Healthy Kids, MediKids and Children's

Medical Services-CMS) where the problems are happening. The letter

asked the Board to stop disenrolling kids from KidCare coverage until the

problems are fixed. At their meeting the next day, the Board unanimously

approved the advocates’ request.

More specifically, here is the plan to fix the

problems:

In October, any child that was disenrolled from KidCare

coverage by mistake will be covered again, once they figure out that the

child shouldn’t have been disenrolled. (Also, if a child who was

wrongly kicked off (or had an application denied by mistake) had medical

expenses during the time that they should have been covered through KidCare,

their family should save and submit the bills. The family will be paid back

if they provide proof of any medical expenses that KidCare should have paid

for.)

Throughout November, no child will lose Healthy Kids, MediKids, or

CMS coverage because of an unpaid premium or other problems with their

paperwork. Families with children who have lost their coverage

over the past few months by mistake should receive a postcard in the mail

asking them to contact the Healthy Kids Corporation to get back into KidCare.

NOTE: None of this means that families

can stop paying their Healthy Kids, MediKids, or CMS premiums. It

just means that no child will lose coverage until their case is reviewed and

it is determined that he or she is being disenrolled for good reason.

At the beginning of December,

the Director of the Healthy Kids Corporation will report back to the Board on

the steps taken to fix the problems. If the Board is satisfied that

everything is OK, the normal process wil start again. If not, the ban on

disenrolling kids from coverage will continue until the problems are fixed.

TAKE ACTION:

If you

believe your child has lost coverage by mistake, watch for a postcard in

the mail from Healthy Kids and respond when you get it.

·

Spread the

word

Randee

Program Coordinator

The Arc/Family to Family

1201 Australian Ave

Riviera Beach, Fl. 33404-6698

(561)842-3213 *Fax (561)863-4352

rgabriel@...

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