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100,000 Florida kids left behind

"I always thought that as Americans we were much more ethical and merciful ...”

Over 100,000 sick and needy Florida kids are being denied critical care by Jeb and his heartless henchmen in the Legislature. These children have hard working parents, but like a lot of families these days, maintaining health insurance coverage is literally impossible.

Jeb! could help all of these kids right now, simply by allowing federal funds that the state already has to be spent. Don’t hold your breath, though, ‘cause it aint gonna happen.

Last year, facing budget trouble, state lawmakers halted enrollment in KidCare, the umbrella health insurance program for children from lower-income families.

The waiting list grew quickly.

By Dec. 24, 89,770 children, some with life-threatening illnesses, were waiting to get KidCare coverage.

Last week, the list stood at 100,840, said Rose Naff, executive director of Florida Healthy Kids Corp., which handles eligibility for KidCare.

Some lawmakers and child advocates have been pressing the Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush to funnel some of a federal economic stimulus package to KidCare, with no success so far.

Bush, who said funding for KidCare has grown 85 percent since 1999, said he doesn't support pouring "one-time nonrecurring" federal money into the program. He promised to increase funding in the next fiscal year.

"It is not possible to tell you where your child is on the wait list or how soon he or she will be enrolled," a recorded male voice on the KidCare information line tells callers.
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For 2-year-old Abigail Confalone, sleeping can be scary, and not because of a boogeyman. Abigail suffers from cherubism, a rare genetic disorder that dissolves jawbones and leads to an overgrowth of fibrous tissue.
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Abigail needs a CAT scan every three months to make sure the tissue isn't cutting off her optic nerve, which would cause blindness.

The girl, who loves the stuffed horse one of her older brothers gave her for Christmas, last visited the doctor in November. So far, she has no appointment to see the doctor again.

In December, the Confalones lost their Medicaid health insurance after their income rose by $3,000. That same month, Confalone, who runs a home day care, and her husband, Donald, an air conditioning technician, applied for KidCare for Abigail and their two sons, Michael, 3, and Jacob, 11.

"They said it would be a very long time" before the Confalone children would be enrolled in KidCare, Debra Confalone said. "It's been very stressful because we don't know where this tissue is going in her head. We don't know if she's going to wake up tomorrow and not be able to see or if the pressure in her brain is increasing, which could cause brain damage. We're just watching day to day to see how she is.

"I always thought that as Americans we were much more ethical and merciful and wouldn't withhold this intensely needed health care from a 2-year-old little girl."

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Matt Hawkinson said he and his fiancee, Jennifer Morgan, applied for KidCare for their nearly 2-year-old daughter, Jolina, the day before the state stopped enrollment. They were told to call back the next day. When they called back, they learned enrollment had been suspended, Hawkinson said.

"They just gave us the runaround," he said. "It was a big fiasco."

The couple - she delivers pizza and he works in construction - already had been turned down for Medicaid.

Jolina, who has hydrocephalus, an abnormal amount of spinal fluid in the brain, has been on the waiting list ever since. She has missed at least three appointments with the geneticist and the neurologist because she has no insurance, Hawkinson said.

"If it doesn't get fixed, it could cause serious brain damage," he said as Jolina played near him in their Sarasota home. "It's pretty hard. It's way too expensive to pay out of pocket."

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Since Aryanne Koch Kraavi was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in June, life has changed.
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Her father, Andy Kraavi, has spent much of the past year pretty upset, too. Last January, he lost his architectural design job. He and Aryanne have since given up satellite TV, a home telephone, the Internet, dinner outings and frequent trips to see friends in Sarasota.

They also lost their health insurance. Six months later, in June, Aryanne was diagnosed with diabetes. She will need insulin shots every day for the rest of her life, her father said.

Kraavi applied for Medicaid but didn't qualify. So in July, he applied for KidCare for Aryanne.

In August, the same month Kraavi's unemployment benefits ran out, one of the programs under KidCare began paying for Aryanne's diabetic supplies and visits to a specialist, but she doesn't have full health care coverage.

"I went from making $38,000 a year to $10,000 a year," Kraavi said. "There's no way I could have (paid for) the supplies and doctor visits. There's something wrong with the system if you make too much money to get Medicaid and not enough to pay for your own health insurance. There should be something to fall back on."
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"I have to hope nothing happens," her father said as Neeko, their yellow Labrador, sniffed out a visitor. "That she doesn't get a cold or the flu or a cut or break a bone or nothing. Otherwise, it'll put me in big debt, and I'd probably never recover from it."