Health-insurance policy, Cover Florida passed the Legislature in May as a way to bring down the state's 3.7 million uninsured, is unlikely to work, according to a report by Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit policy-research group based in Washington. The center analyzed new legislation from both Georgia and Florida designed to reduce the number of uninsured and found lacking in both. Neither of the new state policies provides subsidies to aid low income uninsured residents pay for their health insurance.

Georgia made tax breaks for high deductible plans, while Florida rewrote its rules to permit insurance companies to provide low-cost plans with limited benefits. Low-cost, health plans have been given a try before with limited success, the center said, including in Florida. The state's 6-year-old, Health Flex plan had lesser than 2,300 members as of Dec 2007, the report said and virtually all those who enrolled in Health Flex did so in counties where they got subsidies to help them pay.

"When low income people do enroll in bare-bones plans, they face a significant risk of experiencing high out-of-pocket costs," according to the center's report. "Bare-bones plans offered limited or no coverage for important benefits such as inpatient care, and they often have high deductibles or other cost-sharing charges." The barest of Florida's bare-bones health insurance plans are expected to cost about $150 per month which is still very high for those with low incomes, according to the center. "Because most uninsured people have low incomes, they need subsidies to help them afford coverage."