STOP Florida Medicaid’s MMA Changes to ABA – Our Kids Can’t Wait! 

Petition Summary:
Wake up, Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA)—no one is ready for this transition, and our children are paying for it with their well-being!

The new Medicaid Managed Care system for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services is a failure. These insurance companies only care about profits, and every day they "process" claims is another day children are left without critical therapy. How can Medicaid approve services in a week, yet these insurance companies take 30 to 45 days to do the EXACT same job?

As a parent of a child who receives ABA therapy, I am terrified of what these changes mean—not just for my family but for thousands of others across Florida. These decisions were not made for the benefit of children in need. Instead, greedy corporations are profiting from a system that should be helping our kids.

Delay, Deny, Defend—that’s their strategy. And every day they delay, another child loses their chance to thrive.

Petition Body:
Florida’s decision to transition ABA therapy services into Medicaid Managed Care has resulted in massive delays, denials, and service interruptions for thousands of children. These insurance companies are failing to honor the 90-day Continuity of Care (COC) period, making excuses about long processing times while children go without therapy.

 Here’s what’s happening RIGHT NOW because of these changes:
✔️ Kids are losing access to therapy they’ve depended on for years.
✔️ Insurance companies drag out processing times, ignoring Medicaid’s ability to do the same work in a fraction of the time.
✔️ Most insurers do not consider ABA therapy "medically necessary" for children with diagnoses other than Autism, leaving thousands of kids without treatment.
✔️ Providers are struggling to stay open because they can’t get paid for services already rendered.

These delays and denials are hurting Florida’s most vulnerable children. ABA is a medically necessary treatment under Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) mandate, yet insurance companies are ignoring their legal responsibility.

We Demand:
1️. A full reversal of the ABA Medicaid Managed Care transition—returning to the direct Medicaid reimbursement model that worked for families.
2️. Immediate enforcement of the 90-day Continuity of Care period with financial penalties for insurance companies that fail to comply.
3️. An emergency order requiring insurance companies to match Medicaid’s processing times for ABA authorizations.
4️. A requirement for insurers to approve ABA services for ALL medically necessary cases, not just Autism diagnoses.

Florida’s Medicaid system is supposed to help children, not let insurance companies profit while they suffer. We urge Governor Ron DeSantis, AHCA, and state lawmakers to reverse these harmful changes and ensure that every child gets the therapy they need—without corporate greed standing in the way.

✍️ Sign this petition and let’s fight for our kids!