Florida Weekly Gov’t Roundup: Worries About Drug Test Problems, Granny Dumping

June 19, 2011

Florida health care officials hit the road this week to hold hearings about the new Medicaid overhaul — and got an earful about “granny dumping” and endangered mom-and-pop pharmacies.

The Agency for Health Care Administration, which held 10 hearings from Pensacola to Fort Myers, can do little about many of the objections. In passing the overhaul, lawmakers required that seniors enroll in managed-care plans and decided against giving special treatment to independent drug stores.

http://www.northescambia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/floridaweeklly.jpgBut the hearings are a prelude to AHCA seeking all-important approval of the overhaul from the Obama administration. The objections could offer fuel for opponents who want the federal government to reject the Legislature’s plan.

Gov. Rick Scott, meanwhile, accomplished a priority this week when he signed a bill combining agencies into the new Department of Economic Opportunity. The bill includes dismantling the Department of Community Affairs, a move that is already starting to ripple through growth decisions.

But word also got out this week that Scott has delayed moving forward with a plan to require drug testing for state employees. He decided not to implement the plan while the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida challenges its constitutionality in federal court.

MEDICAID ROAD SHOW:

AHCA faces an Aug. 1 deadline for submitting a detailed proposal to the federal government to carry out the Medicaid overhaul, which calls for almost all beneficiaries to enroll in managed-care plans by October 2014.

That short time frame sent agency officials barreling across the state this week to hold public hearings. They held as many as four in one day — hitting Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami Gardens on Thursday.

Hundreds of people turned out for the hearings, with many critical of the overhaul. During a hearing Monday, Pensacola resident Julia Pearsall warned of glitches in moving to the managed-care system.

“What happens in the short run can be a matter of life and death to the recipients,” said Pearsall, who has long worked on social-service issues.

It was also clear from the hearings that some of the opposition was well-organized. Community pharmacy operators, for instance, turned out en masse because of concerns that HMOs will use mail-order pharmacies to fill prescriptions for Medicaid beneficiaries.

“With unemployment and the economy the way it is, it seems illogical to put more stress on independent business,” said David Enfinger, of A&E Pharmacy in Pensacola.

Another common refrain came from people opposed to requiring seniors to enroll in managed care. An oft-repeated sound bite: The overhaul will lead to “granny dumping,” with HMOs trying to keep seniors out of nursing homes.

Managed-care industry officials, however, argued that they will improve the care of Medicaid beneficiaries.

“We’re not managed costs,” said William McHugh, president of Amerigroup Florida. “We’re managed care.”

JOBS AND BODILY FLUIDS:

Florida got a glimmer of good news Friday, with the announcement that May’s unemployment rate was 10.6 percent — down 0.2 percent from April.

But Gov. Rick Scott made the biggest jobs-related news, when he signed a bill to create a new economic-development agency and acknowledged putting off drug tests for state workers.

The new Department of Economic Opportunity will merge agencies such as the Agency for Workforce Innovation and the remnants of the Department of Community Affairs.

Scott said the bureaucratic changes are intended to help create jobs. Dismantling the Department of Community Affairs, for example, largely eliminates state oversight of local growth decisions, removing a potential roadblock to development.

“The bill I signed today provides us flexibility to seize opportunities created by developing markets and effectively respond to the changing needs of the businesses that grow our economy,” Scott said in a prepared statement.

State workers, meanwhile, got at least a temporary reprieve from Scott’s drive to start requiring drug tests. Scott issued an executive order in March calling for the tests but put them on hold amid an ACLU lawsuit.

Scott and his staff denied that he was backing away from the tests. “We’re going forward with it,” the governor said. “We’re going forward, it’s just a process.”

But ACLU officials described the decision as a “retreat” and said the executive order is a violation of state employees’ rights.

“We are pleased that this new order has delayed subjecting thousands of state employees to demeaning, invasive and illegal tests of their bodily fluids,” ACLU legal director Randall Marshall said. “But it does not change our constitutional challenge.”

2012 AND BEYOND:

The 2012 legislative session is still seven months away, but a battle is already building about redistricting.

After supporting 2010 constitutional amendments that created new redistricting standards, several groups this week called on lawmakers to speed up the once-a-decade process of drawing new political lines. The process is scheduled to start in January, though the groups fear that will lead to chaos in candidate qualifying for the 2012 elections.

Also, the groups — including the state NAACP, the League of Women Voters of Florida, Hispanic advocacy group Democracia and Common Cause Florida – asked the House to drop out of a lawsuit that challenges one of the amendments.

“Please let us know that you will do your duty, abide by your oaths to enforce the Florida Constitution, and comply with the Fair Districts amendments,” the groups said in a letter to legislative leaders dated Tuesday.

Republican leaders, who have long opposed the amendments, said they think many of the complaints are politically motivated and aimed at helping Democrats.

“While I would hope that is not the case, how else can we interpret their suggestion that members of the public have less time to speak and to offer input prior to the maps being drawn,” said House Redistricting Chairman Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, who is scheduled to become speaker after the 2012 elections.

Democrats, meanwhile, also have longer-term political concerns as they try to figure out who might be a good gubernatorial candidate in 2014. Among the possibilities: unsuccessful 2010 nominee Alex Sink, Sen. Jeremy Ring of Margate, former Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach — and maybe even former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who is a man without a party.

“”Never underestimate Charlie Crist’s ability to shake things up,” Democratic campaign operative Steve Schale said.

KID STUFF:

It was a rough week for some students, both young and old.

The Florida Department of Education directed numerous school districts to investigate suspicious test scores on FCAT and end-of-course exams because of high numbers of erased answers. The districts are Broward, Miami-Dade, Duval, Flagler, Gadsden, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lee, Leon, Manatee, Orange, Palm Beach, Polk and Seminole.

Meanwhile, college students will get hit in the wallet again, as state universities looks to plug budget deficits. All of the state’s universities are expected to seek 15 percent increases next year in undergraduate tuition.

But on the bright side, Florida kids got a high-profile backer this week, when First Lady Ann Scott became the state’s new Chief Child Advocate.

Roy Miller, president of the Children’s Campaign, an advocacy and watchdog group, said he would have preferred to see a full-time child advocate along with the First Lady. But he also expressed optimism.

“We understand the importance of pillow talk to helping children, and we’re looking forward to working with her,” he said.

STORY OF THE WEEK: The Agency for Health Care Administration held hearings throughout the state, as it prepares to submit a detailed Medicaid overhaul to the federal government.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “There are members of my community, of the African-American community, who are sick and tired of a bleached Parole Commission,” said Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, after Scott and the Cabinet decided against reappointing Cassandra Jenkins to the Parole Commission, leaving it with no African-Americans.

By Jim Saunders
The News Service of Florida

Comments

4 Responses to “Florida Weekly Gov’t Roundup: Worries About Drug Test Problems, Granny Dumping”

  1. SW on June 23rd, 2011 10:30 pm

    gatorgirl,

    I am against nationalization of health insurance. I don’t think it’s the government’s responsibility to force everyone to have insurance; it is the responsibility of the individual. Frankly, I think it’s unconstitutional; much like many things in the federal government over the recent years.

  2. gatorgirl on June 21st, 2011 3:45 pm

    It’s not that Florida decided to change to meet Federal requirements.
    Florida must get approval from the Federal Government to implement systemic changes to Medicaid and/or Medicare, as that is where most of its funding comes from.
    I’d like to yell at certain members of our Congress, though, for trying to shoot down national healthcare reform before it even takes effect. God knows we need something to change–before I lost my health insurance, the premiums had gone up each and every year by a minimum of 10%–wound up paying 80% more than when I signed up for it, with no changes in coverage. That is obviously unsustainable.

  3. 429SCJ on June 19th, 2011 11:15 pm

    I just see very little hope for funding, we keep borrowing and going deeper. Im going to take a look at the debt clock.

  4. SW on June 19th, 2011 10:42 am

    Waitaminit!

    So the Medicaid reform everyone was yelling about was done to comply with federal requirements? If that is true, why is no one yelling at the Congressional members or President Obama?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News