Vision

All Floridians will have access to high quality health care coverage.

Mission

Florida Covering Kids & Families (FL-CKF) works collaboratively with Florida agencies and stakeholders to advocate and conduct outreach to ensure all Floridians have access to affordable health care coverage. The initiative aims to foster and facilitate innovative methods for enrolling and retaining eligible children in Florida's publicly funded insurance programs (Florida KidCare & Medicaid) and enrolling and retaining eligible adults in the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace. FL-CKF also maintains strong channels of communication with local communities in order to reduce health disparities for special populations.

To apply for Florida KidCare, please visit: https://www.healthykids.org/apply/

To apply for the federal Health Insurance Marketplace, please visit: www.CoveringFlorida.org

History

Among the tens of millions of uninsured Americans, there are significant numbers of children who are currently eligible for publicly funded health care coverage programs, but are not enrolled. Approximately 25.8 million Americans are uninsured, including 4.4 million children. Over half of these uninsured children are Hispanic or African American. Many uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

For over fifteen years, FL-CKF has worked to ensure that all of Florida's eligible, but uninsured children are enrolled in Florida's Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) - called Florida KidCare. Covering Kids & Families is originally a national initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

In August 2013, FL-CKF was awarded funding under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) to create a Navigator program in Florida to begin assisting consumers with enrolling in coverage with the Health Insurance Marketplace (Healthcare.gov). Under the Covering Florida Consortium, FL-CKF and its 11 contracted partners cover all 67 counties in Florida with over 150 Navigators providing outreach and enrollment assistance services. FL-CKF has received 3 subsequent cooperative agreement awards each year since 2013, now totaling over $21 million in funding.

Since the first year of Marketplace open enrollment, the uninsured rate in America has declined from 20.4% in 2013 to 12.4% in 2016, representing a historic low in uninsured rates for non-elderly Americans.  While current estimates state that approximately 20.4 million Americans now have coverage under the ACA, FL-CKF’s work is not done. The Covering Florida Consortium continues to work to enroll those still uninsured, assist currently insured with re-enrollment, and provide outreach and education including Coverage to Care services.