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WEEK 4
SESSION 2021
Large Strategies
Health Care
Capitol Update
But first some good news!
COVID LIABILITY PROTECTIONS
The House Friday passed on an 83-31 vote, a plan to shield businesses and health-care providers from COVID-19-related lawsuits, teeing up the proposal for DeSantis.
The plan offers protections from lawsuits related to the pandemic to all businesses, from general stores to nursing homes.
SB 72 now heads to the Governor's desk where he will sign into law.
Protecting Front Line Health Care Providers
SB 72 requires a plaintiff who files a COVID-19-related lawsuit to prove that a health care provider’s conduct constituted gross negligence or intentional misconduct. Under the bill, a health care provider has strong liability protections when the provider substantially complies with authoritative or applicable government-issued health standards or guidance related to COVID-19. The provider is also entitled to strong liability protections for delaying or cancelling a medical procedure or surgery due to government-issued health standards or guidance.
House & Senate Roll Out
Proposed Budgets
House and Senate budget chiefs are beginning to piece together the
state’s 2021-2022 spending plan. 

The two chambers are moving ahead with their respective budget proposals, although lawmakers won’t have a clearer picture of how robust Florida’s post-pandemic economic rebound is until state economists meet next month.

In all, the House proposed spending roughly $42.1 billion across the state’s six health care-related agencies. By contrast the Senate released a $42.3 billion proposal. The proposals are an early step that will ultimately be part of House & Senate leaders negotiating a final budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The House and Senate released early iterations of health care spending plans this week and the outlook wasn't pretty for Florida hospitals.
The Senate proposed about $328 million in reductions to hospitals and the House proposed $514 million, including the near elimination of what is known as the “critical care fund.” The fund is used to provide enhanced Medicaid payments for health care providers that treat the largest numbers of Medicaid patients.

Lawmakers relied on older budget forecasts when assembling their budgets. But the new forecasts have improved, which should reduce the need for reductions.
Additionally, about $10 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money will soon be headed Florida's way, a portion of which could be used to reduce the cuts. Also, the Biden administration has said that it will continue the additional 6.2 percent hike in the amount of money the federal government contributes to the Medicaid program. That would increase by $130 million per month the amount of federal money coming to the state to support Medicaid. The budgets released this week don't include the additional 6.2 percent in federal money.

But an operative word to keep in mind as the appropriations committees consider the initial plans might be just that: initial.
State economists are expected April 6 to revise estimates of general revenue, and that likely will give Senate and House leaders more cash as they negotiate a final budget during the closing weeks of the legislative session.

Enrollment in Florida’s Medicaid program stands at more than 4.5 million people, an increase of more than 730,000 people in the year since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state. Medicaid and other health and human-services programs took up $11.7 billion in state general revenue, which comes primarily from sales taxes.
SENATE
The proposed health-care budget released Wednesday by Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Chairman Sen. Aaron Bean also calls for steep reductions to hospitals, though they would be less than what the House is seeking.

"I call it the live-within-your-means budget," said Bean. Bean said lawmakers took into account money that hospitals received through the federal CARES Act, a stimulus package that passed last spring, when developing the budget.

The Senate proposal would reduce hospital inpatient and outpatient Medicaid rates by $251.2 million. Also, the Senate would reduce the “critical care fund” by $77.3 million, compared to the House’s proposed $226 million reduction.

Unlike the House, the Senate proposal wouldn’t cut funding for nursing homes.

Senate proposes eliminating over-the-counter drug benefits and a few other "optional" Medicaid services for adults on Medicaid, which would lead to a $111 million reduction.
Including in the optional Medicaid service cuts: adult chiropractic, adult podiatric, adult hearing and adult vision & optometric services. The plan also proposes removing 19-20 year olds from the Medicaid rolls.
HOUSE
The House's spending plan hit some facilities particularly hard, according to Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida CEO Justin Senior. Seventy percent of the reductions proposed by the House this week affect the state's 12 regional perinatal intensive care centers, which care for some of the sickest children in Florida.

Additionally, the so-called "Pfizer 5" were hit with $180 million in reductions under the House's plan. The Pfizer 5 were the hospitals that were the first in the state to receive COVID-19 vaccines: Tampa General, UF Health Jacksonville, Memorial Healthcare in Broward County Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and AdventHealth in Orlando.
Senior remains hopeful, though, that the budget picture will improve.

Both House & Senate proposed budgets would be larger than the current year’s $92.3 billion state budget. The House chalks up the increase in its plan to an infusion of federal money for Medicaid costs and COVID-19 response.

While the House budget includes cuts for hospitals and nursing homes, it also includes funding for an initiative by Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, to allow postpartum women to continue to receive Medicaid benefits for a full year following delivery of babies.
In the NEWS
Ads like those promising "You might be entitled to compensation!" are targeted by a bill (SB 1992) approved this week in a Senate committee. The measure, along with another (HB 1483) moving in the House, would put new limits on out-of-state lawsuit client referral services and aggregators that advertise in Florida for clients possibly injured by prescription drugs and medical devices. Florida Bar News
Legislation to raise the smoking and vaping age from 18
to 21 to match federal law was approved this week in House and Senate
committees. The legislation also preempts the age for buying nicotine delivery
devices to the state. SB 1080 / HB 987

A larger share of cigarette tax revenue would go to the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute under legislation unanimously passed by the Senate. Currently, the center gets just over 4% of the share of the tax. Under the bill, it would eventually go to 10%. SB 866
A pedestrian safety bill calling for replacing yellow mid-block crosswalk lights with red ones was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee. The bill (SB 1412)
is named after Sophia Nelson, a 12-year-old killed while crossing a road in
Satellite Beach in 2019. Florida Politics
New mothers covered by Medicaid would get a full year of
health care benefits under the program after delivering their baby instead of
being cut off after two months under a proposal announced Tuesday by House
Speaker Chris Sprowls. The $240 million extension is expected to have
bipartisan support, and matches a push by Democrats in
A bill that would put a $100 monthly cap on insulin costs was approved in its first committee this week, but lawmakers cast doubt on its prospects.
has been a national issue for years, and the bill (SB 786)
approved by the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee was a second attempt
by sponsor Sen. Janet Cruz. "It's going to probably not go anyplace again
this year because what it's going to do is injure the people that provide our
health insurance. noted Sen. Doug Broxson.
“They're going to absorb every dollar.” Fourteen states have passed
laws putting caps on insulin copay costs, with Kentucky's governor just
A new pool of money for emergencies would be created in the governor’s office under a relief measure approved by a state Senate committee. It would eliminate the need to seek general revenue to respond to the ongoing COVID crisis and future pandemics. Read more.  
A House committee passed a wide-ranging bill aimed at
making the state better prepared for health emergencies, including a
requirement for a state personal protective equipment stockpile. The bill also
is a vehicle for some concerns about unlimited government mandates in the face
of a pandemic - it limits local emergency orders to six weeks. PCB PPE 21-01
Bills UP Next Week
(as of March 27)
Legislative Almanac 
The 3,000th bill of the 2021 legislative session (HB 7049) was filed on Thursday. For comparison, 3,518 bills were filed last session, 210 of which passed both chambers.
COVID Vaccination Update
Beginning Monday all Floridians 40 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced. All adults in the state will be able to get the vaccine starting April 5. DeSantis also said that more than 70% of the roughly 4.4 million seniors who live in the state have now been vaccinated. Health News Florida