Rita Gorenflo's 7-year-old son Nathaniel was in severe pain from a sinus infection. But since the boy was covered by Medicaid, she couldn't immediately find a specialist willing to see him. After days of calling, she was finally able to get Nathaniel an appointment nearly a week later near their South Florida home. That was in 2005. Last month, ruling in a lawsuit brought by the state's pediatricians and patient advocacy groups, a federal district judge in Miami determined Nathaniel's wait was "unreasonable" and that Florida's Medicaid program was failing him and nearly 2 million other children by not paying enough money to doctors and dentists to ensure the kids have adequate access to care.
