‘It's disheartening': Thousands of Florida kids are losing Medicaid coverage on Easter Sunday

Thousands of Florida’s most needy kids are losing their Medicaid coverage this weekend.

Rylan Seid can’t walk. He suffers from a rare genetic disorder, plus traumatic brain injury, and requires round-the-clock care. Rylan turns 10 on Easter Sunday, the same day his life-saving healthcare benefits run out.

“We’re finding out, us and hundreds and thousands of other parents, are finding out directly from the providers that care is all of a sudden ending on the 31^st, without anyone letting us know or any correspondence,” said Zach Seid, Rylan’s dad.

“Initially, I just couldn’t even believe it, to not give any sort of notice whatsoever, his livelihood depends on this type of insurance,” added Rylan’s mother, Katy Maron.

Rylan is on state Medicaid, but a federal, pandemic-era program forcing states to provide coverage expires on Sunday. The Florida Department of Children and Families says it notified everyone impacted by the change, but Rylan’s parents say they’ve heard nothing from DCF. Since last April, the state has dropped 460,000 kids from its Medicaid rolls. 

“It’s disheartening, it’s incredibly sad, it’s really unfortunate,” Maron said.

I asked her how emotionally tough this is to deal with, especially on a holiday weekend.

“There’s been a lot of tears, that’s for sure, you try to do the best for your child but when they fail you, it’s really hard,” Maron said, and added a message to state officials: “Do better, that’s all I can say is do better, we’re working parents, we’re trying the best we can.”

In Rylan’s case, the specialized care, medications and therapy he needs add up to thousands of dollars a day. Losing coverage is terrifying.

“It’s a world of emotions that come over you and a helplessness to understand that you have no idea what comes next, and that’s his daily life anyway, so to throw this on top of it, and put the amount of pressure that they’re putting on us, I can’t even begin to tell you the weight that’s on your shoulders,” Seid said.

Seid and Maron, who live in Port St. Lucie, found out last week from Rylan’s physical therapist that coverage was ending. They immediately filed an appeal, which must be done before Sunday, and that should shift them to the state’s KidCare coverage plan while their appeal is being heard, but they have not received any official word from DCF that it’s actually happening and say they cannot get anyone from the agency to answer their questions.

DCF sent NBC6 the following statement on Friday:

There are additional low-cost coverage options available for children in the state of Florida beyond the Medicaid program, including those found within Florida Healthy Kids. For any recipient deemed ineligible for Medicaid coverage, Florida Healthy Kids reaches out directly to the family to provide these options. Coverage under Florida Healthy Kids can be as low as $15 a month.

The Department is required to follow federal law when it comes to terminating coverage on the last day of the month for individuals who are no longer eligible for Medicaid. However, the Department and Florida Healthy Kids perform follow up with each of these recipients to inform them of their other options. 

The Department proactively began calling recipients two months prior to their redetermination date to inform them of the upcoming process. The Department successfully spoke to 93% of these recipients. In addition, in the event the Department does not receive a recipient's application by the due date, additional efforts are made to contact the recipients using multiple modes of communication (up to 13 times) via mail, text, and phone. This level of outreach goes above and beyond the requirements of the federal government and is further evidence of our commitment to supporting recipients through the process. We are even making additional contact attempts (beyond those already mentioned) for those who would normally be procedurally terminated for being non-responsive.

The Department does not determine Medicaid eligibility for SSI recipients. Their SSI application serves as their Medicaid application, and the federal government is responsible for determining eligibility. If someone is going to lose their SSI coverage, they will also lose their Medicaid coverage, and the federal government is responsible for notifying them of this decision. The State of Florida will contact these individuals to let them know the process for submitting a separate Medicaid application to see if they qualify for other types of coverage (i.e., Share of Cost Medicaid).