Health

State's rate of uninsured children increased. Experts say it's likely to keep growing

Central Florida Public Media | By Joe Mario Pedersen

Published September 16, 2025 at 2:41 PM EDT

Erin Booth, and her 8-year-old son Landon, sit in the toy room of their Lake Como home. The two are surrounded by toys donated to Landon while he underwent Chemo treatments. In 2021, Landon was diagnosed with Leukemia. The two received a Medicaid redetermination letter from DCF last March, despite the agency saying patients with complex medical conditions would be last to be evaluated in 2024.

In the last two years, more Florida children have lost health insurance, according to new data by the U.S. Census released last week.

The population survey found that Florida saw the second biggest jump behind Texas in the rate of insured children between 2022 and 2024 – 7.4% to 8.5%.

A jump was expected by experts, as that time period is when "Medicaid Unwinding" began, in which states were allowed to review eligibility and terminate coverage for those on Medicaid. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed into law the continuous enrollment provision, which meant states could not remove people from Medicaid coverage during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Once the emergency ended, states could review eligibility.

In 2023, Florida, like other states, began removing people from Medicaid. By the end of the unwinding period, it had removed about 500,000 kids.

"That was a concern to us at the time," said Joan Alker, the executive director at the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. "Most children who are uninsured today are actually eligible for Medicaid or CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program), but they're just not enrolled."

Those who were kicked off Medicaid, but still qualify, lost coverage for a variety of reasons, including "procedural reasons." That means the state was unable to make contact with the family while the unwinding was occurring.

At the time, about 80,000 children migrated over to Florida's Children's Health Insurance Program, but it was not known what happened to the vast majority of other children, as the state did not track that information. The newly-released Census data paints a better picture, revealing that about 67,000 kids became uninsured between 2022 and 2024.

Among them is 10-year-old Hayden Wiedmeyer of Fort Myers. Hayden was born with a rare chromosome defect known as DiGeorge Syndrome, which weakens the body's immune system, according to his mother, Jennifer Wiedmeyer.

Hayden requires help from 13 specialists, which was covered under Children's Medical Services, a program for children under 21 who qualify for Medicaid. That was the case until 2023, when his coverage dropped.

"Without any notice. I only discovered this when I tried to make an appointment for him, and I was told that we no longer had coverage," Jennifer Wiedmeyer said. "I was told that the dismissal was due to our income level actually no longer meeting the maximum amount allowed."

Hayden missed follow-up appointments, including his biannual cardiology appointment, an echocardiogram, which has now been overdue since April 2024.

"These are not optional visits. These are life-saving checkups," Wiedmeyer said.

What's next?

Alker expected to see an increase in the uninsured rate from last year. She's expecting to see it increase even more next year, too.

Alker said there will be more uninsured kids as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act did not renew tax credit subsidies for the Affordable Care Act Marketplace insurance, which helped lower costs and keep insurance plans on the marketplace affordable.

"The uninsured rate for children continues to rise as we speak, even though the data we looked at was from 2024, and if the subsidies expire, that will drive it up more next year," Alker said.

Alker is also concerned about a "chilling effect" keeping people away from Medicaid. In July, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was given access to personal Medicaid data.

"One out of four children [in the] United States has an immigrant parent. This is a really big deal, this chilling effect. These families are scared about handing over their information to the government, and who could blame them at this point, so I think that's driving up the uninsured rate," Alker said.

Two years ago, state legislators voted to increase income eligibility for the Florida's Children's Health Insurance program.

However, the state has yet to enact the expanded safety net as it continues a lawsuit with the federal government over a rule that would force Florida to continue coverage for families if they miss a monthly premium.