Arizona and Florida — whose rates of uninsured children are among the highest in the nation — set goals last year to widen the safety net that provides health insurance to people 18 and younger. This story also ran on . It can be .
But their plans to expand coverage illustrate key ideological differences on the government’s role in subsidizing health insurance for kids: what to charge low-income families as premiums for public coverage — and what happens if they miss a payment. “It’s a tale of two states,” said , executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. That divergence represents more than just two states taking their own path.
It showcases a broader breakthrough moment, Alker said, as the nation rethinks how government works for families following the covid-19 pandemic. The divide also underscores the policies at stake in the 2024 presidential election. Republican-led legislatures in Florida and Arizona worked across party lines in 2023 to pass bills to expand their states’ Children’s Health Insurance Program — widely known as CHIP — which covers anyone younger than 19 in families earning too much to be eligible for Medicaid.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs then signed bills into law last year that increased the amount of money a family can make and still be eligible for their states’ CHIP programs.
That’s where the similarities end. Arizona began to enroll newly e.
