Judge urged to let Florida Medicaid lawsuit proceed
MIAMI (AP) – A federal judge was urged Thursday not to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the Florida Medicaid health care program is failing thousands of children and to permit the case to become a class action representing all eligible Floridians under age 21.
“What we seek to do here is enforce the federal law,” said Stuart Singer, attorney for the nine children and organizations representing pediatricians and dentists who brought the lawsuit. “The heart of our case is access to care.”
The lawsuit, first filed in 2005, claims the federal-state Medicaid program that provides health services to the poor does not do the job required by law, especially when it comes to children. For example, the lawsuit contends that some 30,000 babies per year get no early preventative health care, thousands of toddlers get no health checkups and a majority of Medicaid children get zero dental care.
Central to these problems is a lack of doctors, dentists and other providers willing to treat Medicaid patients. That means Medicaid families must search longer to find care and often are forced to drive long distances, and hundreds of eligible people aren’t even aware of their potential benefits.