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The St. Petersburg Times' March 2 editorial, Cuts for the poor, painted a bleak - and incorrect - picture of my Medicaid proposals. I am committed to the well-being of Florida's more vulnerable citizens, which is why we must act now if we are to protect the core services that Floridians on Medicaid have come to rely on.
Our track record is proof positive of this commitment. We've not only increased funding for Medicaid by nearly 80 percent since I took office, but also championed initiatives like the Silver Saver prescription drug program and community-based care to improve service and increase choice.
Despite these initiatives, the current budget for Medicaid is growing at a rate that imperils our entire state budget. Florida will need $14.3-billion in the coming year just to keep up with current service levels - that's almost $1.75-billion more than this year. The real cost drivers for these increases are nursing homes, prescription drugs and inpatient hospital services. These increases can't be sustained. Florida has fared better than most states by maintaining strict fiscal discipline in tough economic times. Far from disciplined, Medicaid's one-size-fits-all approach does less with more at the expense of Florida's other priorities like schools and the environment.
If we are to sustain this program, we must use every dollar as wisely as possible. Our measured savings in Medicaid are crafted to ensure that those in this important program continue to receive the care they need. Under current rules, Medicaid pays for a patient's nursing home bed for up to eight days while at the same time paying for hospital stays, hospice care or other services. This double-dipping, and in some cases triple-dipping, adds up to millions of dollars wasted each year, and is just one example of Medicaid's inefficiency. Contrary to the Times' assertion, the majority of patients will be able to re-enter the same nursing home they came from, and others will be able to obtain care at other homes.
During my State of the State address, I asked for the Legislature's support in partnering with Washington to overhaul Medicaid and create a system able to respond to the real-world needs of patients by boosting access, improving flexibility and bringing stability to costs. These changes are absolutely essential to the future of Medicaid. I am committed to working toward a solution that continues to bring elderly Floridians in need of Medicaid services the dignity and freedom they deserve while maintaining a system that states - and taxpayers - can live with.
Thank you for the editorial Cuts for the poor. Our state budget reveals where our elected officials' priorities are. With a $325-million cut in Medicaid and a $300-million tax break to wealthy investors in the state, they are saying that those who have enough money to invest in stocks and bonds deserve a break, but those on fixed incomes and dependent on the staff of skilled nursing facilities for activities of daily living deserve less.
As someone who works in the only Catholic nursing and rehabilitation center in Pinellas County, Bon Secours Maria Manor, I implore your readers to contact their legislators and Gov. Jeb Bush, and let them know we do not think this is fair. Nursing homes are not merely places where residents are treated. For many residents they are their homes, where they will live the remainder of their lives.
The mission of Bon Secours Health System is to bring compassion to health care and to be good help to those in need, especially the poor and the dying.
How can state leaders choose to give tax breaks to the wealthy when there are increasing needs for our frailest citizens?
I am a very concerned citizen, taxpayer, and pastor of an 850-member Episcopal parish in Clearwater (Holy Trinity).
In all these roles, but especially as pastor, I attempt to remind my flock that Jesus' words to us in Matthew 25:31 and following are definitive for us. As such, I find Gov. Jeb Bush's attempt to make elderly, ill and poor citizens also homeless if they should have to go into the hospital and have to give up their homes (a bed in a nursing home), reprehensible and contrary to the Gospel.
I urge the governor to reconsider this action, which will cause unneeded trauma to the most defenseless among us. To recall our lord's words: "As you have done it unto the least of these you have done it unto me."
Why not take the funds to lessen our state deficit off the top of the food chain (read: wealthy) instead of from the bottom (our poorest and most defenseless)?
Re: Legislature's new tack on disputed measures: speed, March 4.
I read this article in disbelief. The Florida Senate has passed a bill that would provide millions of dollars annually for the nation's first public chiropractic school. Talk about pork barrel politics at its best. This was a pet project of Sen. Dennis Jones and is part of a deal between House and Senate leaders which was tied to other projects. In this time of tight health care funding this is not a responsible way to spend state dollars.
I work in a privately funded, not-for-profit medical clinic, and every day I see many uninsured adults and children who could use this money for medicines and necessary testing. Unfortunately this kind of politics will continue until the public screams loud enough to use funds more responsibly.
Now that Family Continuity has failed to provide for the welfare of our children in Pinellas County we are turning to another agency. So much for "community based care." We now have community based care from a community outside our county. Maybe Sarasota County knows more about what we need in Pinellas County than we do? The Department of Children and Families keeps trying to fix a problem without following the legislation that was passed in the 2000-2001 session, which stated that "assemblies" would replace the Health and Human Services Boards and those "assemblies" would be made up of specific community leaders. That still has not happened.
Isn't it great that our legislators pass laws in the state of Florida only to have them ignored by the various departments? The governor and his department heads still don't get the concept that "community based" means that they don't tell us what to do. Send us the money and we (the community) will figure out a better and cheaper way to get the job done.
Re: Cleaning house at DJJ, editorial, March 1.
The sincere dedication of the House Select Committee on Juvenile Detention Facilities is the reason for the current shakeup at the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. The committee members are true representatives of the people of Florida. They have listened to testimony, pored through records and assimilated information in a manner that is putting DJJ under necessary scrutiny. Their diligent bipartisan efforts have peeled away the layers of systemic failures reflective of an institutional culture that has been allowed to fester by the very agency that should have prevented such a cancer.
As an advocate with www.justice4kids.org I have carefully watched the no-nonsense style of this committee, led by Rep. Gus Barreiro. The process has been refreshing and rewarding to follow. I thank all of the members for honorably representing the citizens of our state.
Re: Managing to fail, editorial, Jan. 16.
Prudence often dictates letting sleeping dogs lie, but this editorial deserves some response and clarification. At issue is not the current management of WorkNet Pinellas, but events of the past that are now being brought to final closure.
The predecessor boards, Pinellas Workforce Development Board and Pinellas Wages Coalition, contracted with Lockheed Martin to serve as the One Stop Operator for Region 14. WorkNet Pinellas replaced PWDB and PWC as the administrative entity in January 2001. Lockheed Martin tendered notice that it was canceling the contract with the county in February 2001. Your editorial states that it was the other way around, and that is not correct.
The sudden cancellation by Lockheed Martin left several issues unresolved, and the result was a lawsuit. It is important to recognize these issues directly involved taxpayer money and legitimate disputes that WorkNet and the county felt strongly should not be just paid off without proper justification.
Litigation and forensic investigation are costly and not a good use of the money that should be going to provide help for our customers, the citizens of Pinellas County. By arriving at a mutually acceptable settlement - one that satisfied both sides - it is estimated that we saved an additional $750,000 in potential legal and audit fees.
Your conclusion that the $600,000 would train and place 171 people is accurate. That is what we agreed the money had been used for and why we agreed to pay that amount to ACS, the successor to Lockheed Martin. To imply that it was not used for that purpose and available is simply not correct. Spending another $750,000 to dispute $600,000 that was owed is not sensible under any standards.
All the other issues raised in the editorial occurred prior to our new management and executive director, and are historical. They are not proper indicators of current management or the dedication to serving those in need.
WorkNet has benefited not only from the commitment of its members but from the dedicated county management and staff that assisted in reconciling the tens of thousands of documents involved in the old issues. The county and WorkNet have a legal relationship that ties us together with the county as the designated, by law, fiscally responsible entity. Transfers of funds to avoid additional legal fees and to bring closure to a festering issue should be laudable and not misconstrued as mismanagement.
WorkNet has, again, received incentive funds from the state for its improved performance and will continue to honor the commitment to provide Pinellas County with an economically viable climate through a skilled work force.
Have you heard the latest liberal/media/talking head catch phrase? The term is "investor class," commonly used in close proximity to "working class" in conversations and written material. Apparently, investors don't work, and workers don't invest. It's all aimed at inciting another "us versus them" issue based on corporate and insider scandals. I wish someone would clearly define these terms - as well as the old standby "middle class." Are there both investors and workers in the middle class?
And would somebody please tell me what the income or net worth floor is for "rich" people? A lot of politicians want to raise their taxes, but don't want to offend anyone by identifying who they are. I believe most voters are fed up with all this class warfare rhetoric. And the media let it go unchallenged. When a politician criticizes the opponent's position, he/she ought to be pressed to clearly define their own. But "dirty politics" is probably easier and more effective.
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