CoverFlorida Health Care

Last year, the CoverFlorida Health Care program got started. This is essentially group insurance for the Florida uninsured pool, organized by (but not paid for by) the state of Florida. Governor Charlie Crist says the following on the CoverFlorida website:

During the 2008 legislative session, my administration worked with legislators of both parties to secure unanimous approval of the Cover Florida Health Care Access Program. This legislation makes affordable health coverage available to 3.8 million uninsured Floridians through a comprehensive market-based strategy.

3.8 million uninsured Floridians. That’s a lot.

It has been a little over a year now, so maybe we can start to see a shift in the demographic. How many eligible people actually have signed up for coverage under CoverFlorida’s plans? According to a PDF summarizing enrollment through January, 2010, that would be 5,426 people. That works out to about 0.14% of the eligible pool who have taken the plunge. At that rate, 3.8 million people may have signed up for this health care somewhere around the year 2709. That does appear to be viewing the problem as solving itself in Lord Keynes’ long run.