The Florida Healthy Kids Corporation was created in 1990 by the Florida Legislature as a public-private effort to improve access to health insurance for the state's uninsured children. The program came about as a result of an article published in the March 31, 1988, New England Journal of Medicine by Steve A. Freedman, Ph.D., F.A.A.P., then-Director of the Institute for Child Health Policy at the University of Florida.

Since its beginning, Healthy Kids has covered millions of children in Florida. Identified as one of three state programs that was grandfathered into the original Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) legislation in 1997, Healthy Kids was joined with two other existing state health care programs for children (Medicaid and Children’s Medical Services) and a new program (Medikids) to create Florida’s KidCare program in 1998.