www.safetynetsflorida.org/newsroom/2008/budget_cuts.htm -
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Published on: 10/15/2008
Last Visited: 7/18/2008
House Healthcare Council Chairman Aaron Bean had a slightly different perspective, saying that an agreement was near but not quite sealed.
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Bean said lawmakers had to sunset the programs, leaving their fates up to the 2008 Legislature, because the trust fund dollars were nonrecurring.Legally, he said, sunsetting the programs was the only way to spend the dollars on otherwise recurring programs.
Rep. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, said she remains worried about leaving the fate of the programs so uncertain.
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Bean said he believed that lawmakers would act to preserve the programs next year.
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Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, told reporters he didn't know where else he could cut.
"My focus now and my mission is to bring the House a bill that brings the reduction across the health care footprint," he said.
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The need for more health care cuts, however, brings more questions than answers for Healthcare Council Chairman Aaron Bean, who said he does not know yet where the cuts will come from.
Bean noted that 80 percent of state dollars spent on health care draws down a federal match.That means an $83 million cut in state dollars could cost as much as $100 million in federal dollars.
Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, said he is going to try to minimize the loss of federal money somehow.
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House Healthcare Chairman Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, said substance abuse programs are like other areas of the health and human service budget that have taken cuts.He said it's "not that we didn't like them," but it just came down to a lack of available money.
"We're still looking to do all we can to restore (funding for) them," Bean said last week.
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Bean said he even had to defend his decision to cut the $52 million hospice program for dying Medicaid patients with his wife and boss.
"My boss at the bank has called, who never calls ever, who serves on a hospice board and said: 'Rethink that one, Aaron.I never call you on anything, rethink that one,'" Bean said.His wife made a similar plea.
But Bean said the House cut the hospice program to avoid deeper cuts in the Medically Needy program that serves Floridians who have suffered catastrophic diseases or accidents.The Senate made a deeper cut in the Medically Needy program, with a lower cut in the hospice program.Resolving those two issues will be a key to hammering out the final health care budget, Bean said.
"It's truly a question of money," Bean said.
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Bean said the hospitals have a legitimate argument.
"Nobody wants to do this," Bean said.
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Bean said he even had to defend his decision to cut the$52 million hospice program for dying Medicaid patients with his wife and boss.
"My boss at the bank has called, who never calls ever, who serves on a hospice board and said: 'Rethink that one, Aaron, I never call you on anything, rethink that one,'" Bean said.His wife made a similar plea.
But Bean said the House cut the hospice program to avoid deeper cuts in the Medically Needy program that serves Floridians who have suffered catastrophic diseases oraccidents.The Senate made a deeper cut in the Medically Needy program, with a lower cut in the hospice program.Resolving those two issues will be a key to hammering out the final health carebudget, Bean said.
"It's truly a question of money," Bean said.
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Bean said the hospitals have a legitimate argument.
"Nobody wants to do this," Bean said."They truly are our partners in health care and we need them at the table."
Bean said the House tried to soften the blow by not repealing an automatic Medicaid increase that the hospitals normally get.Instead, the House will put the automatic increase on hold for two years.The House also backed a new formula for hospitals that treat a large number of low-income patients."Those that do the charity care get more dollars," he said.
"That being said, it's still short," Bean said about the Medicaid program.
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