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Seniors make strides in legislative session

Lawmakers approve some breaks for the elderly, but leave voters to decide two constitutional amendments that would cut property taxes for low-income seniors and disabled veterans.

By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published May 30, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Seniors made some specific gains in the just-concluded legislative session. And though lawmakers passed some aid for the elderly poor and addressed the issue of long-term care insurance, they also left a couple of major decisions to the voters in this election year.

The lawmakers provided funding for more staffing hours at nursing homes, making good on a 5-year-old promise. They also agreed to have Medicaid pay for dentures, hearing aids and eyeglasses for the first time in four years.

And the lawmakers passed bills that capped phone companies' ability to raise telephone rates without asking.

Though Gov. Jeb Bush has not reviewed or signed these bills, most passed the Legislature overwhelmingly.

Left to the voters to decide are two constitutional amendments that aim to cut property taxes for low-income seniors and disabled veterans.

"Our district has a lot of seniors, and our state has close to 3.5-million,'' said Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who helped get several bills and one of the constitutional amendments aimed at seniors passed through the Legislature.

Retired Floridians "feel it in the pocketbooks. They don't get the 5 or 10 percent raises that employers give, and when the federal government gives them $10 more, it then takes $15 to pay for prescriptions.''

One of the AARP's top priorities that made it through the Legislature the last night of the session was the partial repeal of a controversial 2003 phone-rate law, which had triggered the largest rate increases in Florida history.

The telephone rate bill that passed won't effect rate hikes that already have been approved. However, it does remove a provision of the law that, beginning in 2007, would have permitted phone companies to raise rates up to 20 percent a year without seeking state approval.

One of the things that lawmakers failed to do for seniors this session was to expand the Save Our Homes exemption, which caps property taxes for longtime residents.

Instead, lawmakers pitched a bevy of constitutional amendments aimed at tinkering with that exemption. The objective was to help those Floridians who think they cannot afford to move from their current homes because they think they couldn't afford the property taxes on a newly purchased home.

But the legislators did approve a study to look into the issue further.

And they passed two smaller efforts that will go on the statewide ballot this fall with a nod toward helping a smaller number of elderly Floridians pay their property taxes:

n One tax break that could go into the Constitution would benefit those 65 and older who make $20,000 or less annually. Already, the Constitution allows counties the option to grant these low-income seniors a homestead exemption for their primary residence of up to $25,000, in addition to the $25,000 homestead exemption all homeowners get.

This fall, voters will decide whether to give each county the option to increase that exemption for seniors to $50,000. If the amendment passes, low-income seniors could have $75,000 exempted from their home's value before they pay taxes on it.

n The other constitutional amendment that voters will be asked to approve offers a tax break to some disabled veterans. To qualify, these vets would have to be at least 65 and would have had to have been living in Florida at the time they entered the military. They also would have to have been honorably discharged.

If this amendment is approved, the veterans who qualify would receive a discount from their property taxes equal to the amount of their disability determined by the Veterans Affairs Department.

Seniors also won victories in the state budget this year. For example, lawmakers reinstated an allowance to have Medicaid cover dentures, hearing aids and eyeglasses for the first time since they cut those benefits back in 2002.

Medicaid will cover two pairs of eyeglasses per year, one hearing aid per ear for every three years, and one set of partial dentures for life.

"If you visited nursing homes over the past few years," said Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island, "you realized (many residents) can't see, they can't hear and they can't eat. You realized how it pretty much destroyed their life.''

Lawmakers also agreed to pay for an increased number of hours that certified nursing assistants spend caring each day for Florida's nursing home residents.

These assistants will be paid to attend to seniors in nursing homes, feeding, bathing and helping them move around in their beds for up 2.9 hours per resident per day.

Five years ago, Florida was paying for 1.7 hours of care per day, among the nation's lowest care levels. At that time, legislators promised to increase funds to reach the 2.9-hour standard. The measure finally passed this year.

"It puts Florida just about No. 1 in the nation in the amount of staffing time required for our patients,'' said Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, who chairs the Senate budget committee that oversees health care funding. "Overall, I think seniors fared very well.''

Another bill is designed to encourage seniors to buy long-term care insurance policies and also to prevent companies selling those policies from excessively raising rates.

This policy is a type of insurance bought to safeguard its holders against the high cost of nursing home care, which can average $60,000 a year in Tampa Bay, according to a recent industry report.

Seniors with long-term care insurance policies can no longer be denied Medicaid eligibility if they still have certain assets, such as a house or a car. In the past, these seniors would first have to sell such things, using the money to pay down health care costs, before they could qualify for state help.

The bill also prevents insurance companies from raising rates on seniors who have older long-term care policies. Previously, the companies could ask the state's Office of Insurance Regulation to increase premium rates as much as 200 percent on existing policies that the companies no longer offer. This bill limits the amount of premium increases on such policies.

The same legislation also protects policyholders against fraud claims lodged by some insurance sellers.

Companies now will have two years after a policy is purchased to file a claim that a buyer committed fraud in getting the insurance policy. Previously, an insurance company could allege such fraud occurred many years after the policy was purchased, even as the policyholder might be struggling with dementia and thus have less mental ability to defend himself against that claim.

Consumer advocates had accused insurance companies of launching frivolous fraud allegations to stop paying the policyholder's contracted benefits.

"It's groundbreaking legislation and probably one that's going to become a model for the nation,'' said Commissioner Kevin McCarty, of the Office of Insurance Regulation.

[Last modified May 30, 2006, 07:39:22]