• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Healthcare in Florida

Davsey27

Senior Member
Messages
514
Greetings everyone I was curious if anyone is aware if Florida has free health insurance for individuals with little income to see me/cfs docs or functional med doctors?

Thank You
 

wabi-sabi

Senior Member
Messages
1,484
Location
small town midwest
This is the Florida Medicaid website. Website is: https://www.flmedicaidmanagedcare.com/
Reading more about it, I'm not sure if you'd be eligible. Florida didn't expand medicaid under the ACA, so their requirements are quite strict. In states that expanded Medicaid, being below 133% FPL is enough, but in Florida it looks like you need to be disabled, pregnant or elderly as well. But if you qualify it should be cheaper for you than buying a plan on the exchange.

The other option is the ACA exchange. Florida doesn't have their own. Instead they use Healthcare.gov The sign-up period is from Nov 1st to Dec 15th mostly. But if you are very low income you can sign up anytime. People sometimes switch back and forth between Medicaid and a low cost plan on the exchanges based on their circumstances at the moment.

The only insurance options (other than you paying out of pocket for care)I can think of in the US are employer provided, ACA exchanges, Medicaid, Medicare for elderly, or Tricare for military.
 
Messages
2
Hello! Florida does not support low cost healthcare directly with department of health clinics, etc. and as the other post showed, they do not have expanded Medicaid.

There are low cost privately owned clinics, including Quick Care Med, that have in house programs for general health care. I.E: blood draws, simple office visits, but no hospital coverage. The Quick Care Med program is called Qcard and is less than $500 per year.

Good luck to you!