budget

Three groups filed a lawsuit after lawmakers approved directing money to AHCA to adjust reimbursement rates so Medicaid providers would pay at least $15 an hour to direct-care employees.

Health care-related measures in the proposal are targeted to combat the opioid epidemic, boost mental health programs and assist the elderly, veterans and people with disabilities.

Speaking at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, where she’s undergoing cancer treatment, first lady Casey DeSantis said funds would go to Moffitt, the Sylvester center in Miami and UF Health Cancer Center.

The Department of Health plan calls for a “three-pronged strategy” to attack the pandemic, including funding for testing, support staff and a media marketing campaign.

Advocates for poor, elderly and disabled individuals, who have been pressing the DeSantis administration to leverage the additional funding since spring, hailed the plan.

The governor said the federal money had strings attached that made it unusable for the proposed emergency fund.

Lawmakers directed $91.1 million to hometown health and human services projects, including clinics, meal-delivery programs and a hurricane center. Not all will make it past the finish line.

The endowment, currently valued at about $958.4 million, was created in 1999 to provide support for health care programs and biomedical research. The bill will fold it into a budget reserve.

Advocates worry about a worker shortage that, they say, will only grow worse as more people qualify for the program unless lawmakers do something about increasing wages for people who provide services.

Along with addressing the federal pandemic relief funds, the Senate on Monday decided to go along with a House plan to not reimburse the Chiles Trust Fund for $300 million that was borrowed.