Christine Jordan Sexton
The House and Senate have agreed to spend $717 million on a sweeping health care plan meant to increase the state’s workforce by increasing access to graduate medical education and student loans, and to increase reimbursements for an array of health care providers.
HB 1549 bill sponsor Rep. Michael Grant told members of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee that the underlying policy contained in the bill will continue to evolve as the proposal moves through the House.
“This bill is still a work in progress. There will be more policy changes as we try to align our bill with the Senate bill,” Grant said. “I would say that this is probably a great bill, but it’s not a perfect bill because we don’t do perfect in the Florida House or the Florida Senate. We take steps to get from point A to point B to point C to point D and maybe someday we’ll make the world a better place.”
Grant told Florida Politics following the meeting the amendment not only brings House’s overall spending on Live Healthy in line with the Senate proposal (SB 7016) but that the amount of spending in the various Live Healthy components also is identical.
The move to bring the spending in line comes as the chambers plan this week to vote on their respective spending proposals for state Fiscal Year 2024-25.
When asked if the spending decisions in Live Healthy Grant were final, Grant said: “I hope so, I don’t want to go through this again.”
