On Thursday, the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee unanimously (
12-0) approved HB 89 (Diaz, J.) that eliminates the five-year waiting period for low-income, lawfully-residing immigrant children to participate in the KidCare insurance program. The proposal maintains the exclusion of eligibility for undocumented immigrants of any age. During the committee meeting, Mike McQuone, FCCB associate for health, expressed support for this perennial priority of the FCCB. The measure promotes healthier children and families in Florida by not only allowing for health insurance coverage and preventive care during the first critical years of a child's development, but also by reducing emergency room visits and the cost of uncompensated care across the whole health system. As of March 2015, twenty-nine states (including the District of Columbia) have adopted this option.