Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida’s economists agreed this week that about 31,000 low-income uninsured adults will be enrolled in the Medicaid program this year, about 8,000 fewer people than previously projected.
With lower projected enrollment, members of the Social Services Estimating Conference Committee also agreed to lower by $26.6 million the projected costs of care for people enrolled in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program.
Economists now anticipate the costs of providing healthcare to the 31,394 adults will total $97.1 million as of June 30, 2022. That is nearly $30 million less than what lawmakers appropriated in the current year budget.
In addition to lowering cost and enrollment projections in state fiscal year 2022-23, the budget lawmakers begin working on when they meet in the Legislative Session in January, enrollment projections declined from 38,256 to 31,234 and projected costs dropped from $118.5 million to $99.1 million.
To qualify for TANF in Florida, an applicant must be pregnant or responsible for a child under 19 years of age, have exceptionally low income and be either under-employed or unemployed. Applicants also must be a state resident and a U.S. national, citizen, legal alien or permanent resident.
With regard to income, residents must have a gross family income below 185% of the federal poverty level. Moreover, the household cannot have more than $2,000 in assets.
All sources of income count, including earned and unearned income such as child support or Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.
Economists said the lower than anticipated enrollment was the result of the state’s Guardianship Assistance Program.
“While the availability of the Guardianship Assistance Program had been expected to lead to downward revisions in TANF participation since its inception, the actual changes have been stronger than anticipated even last summer,” economists wrote in their executive summary accompanying the TANF projections.
TANF and Florida KidCare are components of Florida’s Medicaid program. Florida’s Medicaid enrollment exceeded 5 million in November, according to the latest data published on the state Agency for Health Care Administration website. The state and federal governments fund Medicaid, which provides health care to the poor, elderly and disabled.
The Social Services Estimating Conference agreed last week to lower enrollment projections for the Florida KidCare program.
