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This article was originally published by UnidosUS on August 17, 2023. More than half of them were terminated for “procedural” reasons, usually because the state did not get the information it requested from families. These children and families may have been eligible, as far as the state knows. One contributing factor to these bureaucratic terminations of eligible children is that parents often cannot reach the state’s Medicaid call center to renew their children’s coverage. UnidosUS staff made 40 “secret shopper” calls during late July and early August, at multiple times each day of the week. Following are our key findings:
Two-thirds of all Florida children now rely on Medicaid for their health care. The state’s leaders should prioritize protecting these children’s future by making sure none lose health care if they still qualify for help. It is shocking that the state has not used its resources to ensure that parents calling to renew their children’s health care can do so during a typical 30-minute lunch break at work. The state has a $20 billion budget surplus, and lawmakers just spent nearly $3 billion of that surplus on tax cuts. We call on Florida to invest the money needed to make its call center quickly accessible to all Medicaid families, regardless of the language they speak 
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