Maggie Clark

Children are consistently switched from one Medicaid insurance company to another without their parents' consent, and pediatricians continue to have trouble getting their patients the medication and treatment they need, a new survey of Florida pediatricians finds.

A hearing clinic trying to balance financial reality with needs of children on Medicaid reaches out for community support.

Maggie Clark reported this story with the support of the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism and the National Health Journalism Fellowship, programs of USC Annenberg’s Center for Health Journalism....

Kids need access to health care and healthy food, and they need their parents to be educated to advocate for them.

In 2014, only 32 percent of Medicaid-enrolled children received any oral health care, according to Florida data submitted to the federal government. Without proper dental care from the time children sprout their first tooth, they can be set up for a lifetime of tooth decay and cavities.

A local community foundation has teamed up with one of the nation's leading public health researchers to survey more than 5,000 pediatricians throughout the state on their interactions with the Florida Medicaid program.

In pediatric practices across Florida, doctors are struggling to serve patients in the face of paltry reimbursement rates and more intense demands from Medicaid insurance companies.

Jennifer’s experience in Florida’s Medicaid system isn't unique: She waited three months for her son’s appointment and drove 50 miles, only to have the doctor spend five minutes with him, ignore her concerns and tell her to go someplace else.