Miami resident R.V. cares for her two children and a niece whose mother left for work in California and hasn’t been heard from since. Last year R.V. received a letter notifying her that her daughters had been dropped from Medicaid. She filled out the paperwork, but was told it wasn’t done correctly. She had to wait 30 days before applying again. Meanwhile, her children would have no coverage.
R.V. went into a local office to speak with a representative directly. She waited for hours before a supervisor interceded and said that the application was corrected and nothing further would be needed until 2025. Later, when R.V. checked the Florida Medicaid portal, one of her children still had not had her Medicaid reinstated. “It seems so callous to do this to kids,” she shares.
At another in-person visit to DCF, R.V. recalls seeing a grandfather begging to have his grandchildren's coverage reinstated because their mother was recovering from cancer. The man was turned away because the grandchildren's paperwork had been filled out incorrectly and there was a 30 day waiting period to reapply. “It feels like they want you to give up and they just don’t care,” she concludes.
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