Florida’s Healthy Kids Plan Wins National Award

December 3, 1996

GAINESVILLE—Thanks to an idea that struck Steve Freedman while he was shaving nine years ago, thousands of Florida children now have access to affordable medical care.

Today, the health insurance program envisioned by Freedman, executive director of the University of Florida-based Institute for Child Health Policy, is being recognized with one of the most coveted prizes in public service circles: an Innovations in American Government Award bestowed by Harvard University and the Ford Foundation.

The program, which provides health insurance to children through their school districts, was one of 10 selected from more than 1,550 applications, it was announced today in Washington, D.C. (12/3/96).

The awards, which come with a $100,000 prize, honor government achievements and are designed to spread awareness of effective programs so they will be emulated. Vice President Al Gore is scheduled to appear at a dinner this evening celebrating the successful initiatives. Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles will recognize the award at a news conference in Tallahassee at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

In Florida, hundreds of thousands of children have no medical insurance. They are ineligible for Medicaid because their family income or assets are too high. Meanwhile, their parents’ employers offer unaffordable dependent coverage or none at all. Uninsured children often lack routine medical care and end up in costly hospital emergency rooms for treatment that can be handled more efficiently in doctor’s offices.

To combat the problem, Freedman thought of a new avenue for delivering medical coverage: using school districts as a grouping mechanism, much like traditional employment-based insurance pools.

Since the inspiration hit, Freedman’s idea has been put into action by Florida Healthy Kids Corp., a nonprofit organization established in 1990 by the Florida Legislature. Healthy Kids Corp. combines subsidies from state and local governments and premiums paid by parents to offer policies for schoolchildren. The insurance is provided by managed care companies selected through requests for proposals.

In the past year, children insured by the program have had 113,186 physician’s visits, 9,593 immunizations, 1,911 eye exams, 1,788 hearing screenings, 78,837 laboratory or radiology services and received 719 pairs of eyeglasses. In counties where the program is available, emergency room visits by uninsured children have dropped substantially, Freedman said.

Currently, 22,000 children in 13 counties are insured through the program. By the end of June, 47,000 children in 16 counties are expected to be enrolled.

Premiums are based on ability to pay, with a maximum of $50 per month per child and a minimum of $5. Prices for participants are kept low in part because managed care companies do not have to advertise and Healthy Kids Corp. collects the premiums for them, Freedman said.

Freedman envisioned Healthy Kids after research at the UF-based institute, the child health policy arm of the State University System, showed most uninsured people in the state were schoolchildren or related to schoolchildren.

“I thought if adults can be insured through their offices and associations, children should be able to form a meaningful group, too,” said Freedman, who also is an associate professor of pediatrics in UF’s College of Medicine. “It also was becoming apparent that many employers were dropping dependent coverage, and that only added to the problem of the growing number of uninsured children.”

Freedman is in Washington today with Rose Naff, executive director of Healthy Kids Corp., for celebrations of the Innovations in American Government honor.

Other states have begun exploring school district-based insurance pools. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which supported Healthy Kids in Florida from the beginning, announced in September it is providing $3 million for up to seven states to replicate the program.

The Healthy Kids program is available or will soon be available in the following Florida counties: Alachua, Broward, Collier, Dade, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, Pinellas, St. Lucie, Santa Rosa and Volusia.