Florida Launches Health Access Program

Sunshine State officials have introduced a program that will make basic individual health insurance products available to uninsured residents and unemployed residents throughout the state.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation have launched the Cover Florida Health Care Access Program.

The program will be open on a guaranteed-issue basis to Florida residents ages 19 to 64 who recently have lost their jobs or who have been without health insurance for at least 6 months, state officials say.

The carriers offering Cover Florida products throughout the state are Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Jacksonville, Fla., and a unit of UnitedHealth Group Inc., Minnetonka, Minn.

Several other carriers will offer Cover Florida products on a regional basis.

Some carriers will insure only eligible adult applicants, and some will insure adult applicants’ children as well as the adult applicants, officials say.