Gray Rohrer
A pair of health care bills prioritized by Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican — designed to expand the state’s health care workforce and access to mental health services — cleared their last committee vote and are now headed to the Senate floor.
The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee approved SB 7016 and SB 7018 unanimously, after Republicans waved off an attempt by Democrats to tack on an amendment to expand Medicaid to one of the bills.
Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a Windermere Democrat, offered the amendment to SB 7016 to highlight what she sees as a missed opportunity for the state to draw down $14.3 billion in federal money to provide for low-income families who are uninsured or underinsured.
“There are over 800,000 Floridians who would gain access to health insurance through the expansion of Medicaid,” Thompson said. “We need to be concerned about the working poor.”
But Sen. Colleen Burton, a Lakeland Republican sponsoring the bill, defended the measure as geared toward serving vulnerable populations, including low-income residents and disabled people.
“This bill that we have in front of us does provide expanded opportunities for uninsured and underinsured Floridians to access care,” Burton said.
Thompson ultimately withdrew the amendment before a vote was taken. Passidomo declared Tuesday, the opening day of the Regular Session, that Medicaid expansion wouldn’t pass.
However, the panel did approve changes to the bill that allows the Agency for Health Care Administration to “develop any requirements or standards it deems necessary for patient safety” for advanced birth centers, instead of requiring a formal rulemaking process for the centers. Birth centers currently can’t perform Cesarean sections, but advanced birth centers can.
Another amendment allows advanced practice registered nurses to qualify for the Florida Reimbursement Assistance for Medical Education (FRAME) program even if they don’t practice in a primary care setting.
The underlying bill puts $797 million towards an array of programs, mostly aimed at increasing positions for graduate medical students, incentivizing doctors and medical workers in Florida to serve in rural areas of the state and increasing reimbursement rates for Medicaid, especially in mental health services and disability services.
The other measure, SB 7018, sets up a Health Care Innovation Council to administer a fund to provide low-interest loans (less than 1%) for projects advancing technology in the health care industry.
