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AHCA reports TEACH program growth but says KidCare expansion is stalled amid federal waiver dispute
Summary
AHCA told senators it spent about $6.8 million on the TEACH training program for FY24–25 and reimbursed nearly 1,800 students across 229 sites; AHCA also said a federal disagreement over continuous eligibility and CMS special terms blocked implementation of HB 121’s CHIP expansion after an 1115 waiver submission.
The Agency for Health Care Administration reported early success for the TEACH workforce program but told the Senate Health Policy Committee that the planned expansion of Florida’s KidCare (CHIP) program remains on hold because of an unresolved federal waiver and related litigation.
Deputy Secretary Brian Meyer said the TEACH program — enacted last session and funded at $25 million — reimbursed $6.8 million in FY24–25 to 59 parent organizations that cover 229 unique facilities and support roughly 1,800 students and about 380,000 clinical training hours. “For 2425, state fiscal year, the agency expended $6,800,000 to 59 parent organizations,” Meyer said, noting caps by facility type and the program’s reporting requirements. Rulemaking for TEACH was near completion and the agency plans a December 1 report to the Legislature.
On KidCare implementation, Meyer said AHCA submitted a Section 1115 waiver in May 2025 to implement House Bill 121, which would increase CHIP income eligibility tiers and create graduated premium levels. He told the committee that after the waiver submission CMS issued special terms and conditions tied to a federal interpretation of continuous eligibility and a rule preventing CHIP disenrollment for nonpayment of premiums. Meyer said that position and subsequent CMS communications effectively prevented AHCA from implementing the expansion: AHCA challenged the interpretation in federal court and remains in litigation and negotiations with the Department of Justice and CMS.
“On July I want to say July 17, we received a phone call and then a follow‑up communication ... related to the administration CMS's position around no longer approving new 11 15 workforce demonstrations,” Meyer told the committee, summarizing federal responses. He said that CMS has agreed to continue existing approvals through a sunset date of June 30, 2027, giving the state time to seek alternative approaches.
Senators pressed AHCA for data on two fronts: how many children had been disenrolled for nonpayment of CHIP premiums under existing program rules, and how many children are excluded from KidCare because income limits have not yet been raised. Meyer said AHCA did not have exact counts on hand and that some information would come from the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation; he offered to follow up.
Public‑interest groups and legal advocates at the committee hearing urged faster action. Josie Barroso of Florida Voices for Health said every week of delay “matters for working families,” and Melanie Andrade Williams of the Florida Health Justice Project told senators she had numbers showing 67,000 additional children became uninsured after the Medicaid unwind — a figure the advocate attributed to state post‑pandemic coverage changes.
What’s next: AHCA plans to continue negotiations with CMS and DOJ and to pursue alternative implementation pathways; the agency will provide follow‑up data to the committee on disenrollments and related metrics when available.
