Gabrielle Russon
A new media report seems to confirm the $10 million Hope Florida received as part of a settlement with Centene should have covered money owed to taxpayers, even though Gov. Ron DeSantis has denied it.
DeSantis and his team have said that $10 million donation to Hope Florida was extra cash, a “cherry on top,” or a “sweetener” for the deal.
The Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald obtained a copy of a draft agreement between the state and Centene after Florida’s largest Medicaid contractor overcharged taxpayers by $67 million for medications.
“That’s the exact amount DeSantis officials settled on with Centene last year. But instead of returning all $67 million to state and federal coffers, they sent $10 million of it to the Hope Florida Foundation,” the story published Tuesday said.
“The money was then sent to two nonprofit organizations that aren’t required to report how they spend their funds. Those ‘dark money’ groups later gave $8.5 million to a political committee overseen by DeSantis’ chief of staff in a series of transactions that some Republican lawmakers believe were illegal.”
DeSantis has argued Hope Florida did not do anything wrong, and that the $10 million diverted to Hope Florida “was in addition to what they (the state) were getting” with the settlement.
“This is kind of like a cherry on top, where they agreed to make an additional contribution,” DeSantis previously said.
Hope Florida, an initiative of First Lady Casey DeSantis, has been under fire by House Republicans.
Rep. Alex Andrade, a Republican who chairs the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee, is planning to question Hope Florida officials and others this week.
James Uthmeier, who is now the Attorney General, but back then was the Governor’s Chief of Staff, as well as Committee Chair of the political committee that received millions of dollars, also denied wrongdoing.
“I was not involved in the settlement negotiations related to the Hope Florida contribution, and looking at it, everything looks legal,” he said Tuesday.
11 comments
Michael K
April 22, 2025 at 3:24 pm
Sounds like those sticky pudding fingers got caught in the jar.
Now let’s see the travel records.
Paul
April 22, 2025 at 3:30 pm
Hey Uthmeier…and Governor. Better start remembering your lies.
Wow
April 22, 2025 at 4:52 pm
He seems to be forgetting the first rule regarding digging holes: stop digging, man, you are in a hole!
PeterH
April 22, 2025 at 6:04 pm
We need to see the salaries for the board members ….. but in the interim this boondoggle needs to be put out to pasture!
Along for the Ride
April 22, 2025 at 6:09 pm
Wow gotta love this.
Tom Reynolds
April 22, 2025 at 8:29 pm
What a bunch of thieves!
It never stops with Duh Santis ……
He loves to use the words that only Groupies believe…..
He insults everyone with common sense.
Where’s the money Ron?
Josh Green
April 22, 2025 at 11:44 pm
LOCK HIM UP. This is blatant government corruption and theft of taxpayer dollars.
Stewart Kahler
April 23, 2025 at 3:33 pm
Quit posting lies.
R Mendez
April 24, 2025 at 11:01 am
It’s in all the news, look it up. Not everyone is lying.
Brenda
April 23, 2025 at 6:34 pm
Always knew DeSantis was corrupt,probably run for president in 2028,God help us all,we will all be screwed!!
R Mendez
April 24, 2025 at 11:00 am
He should be thrown out of office, clearly illegal.
Comments are closed.