2010 Legislative Priorities

SM 74 (Senator Aronberg) National Universal Health Care Program. This is the second session this FLARA initiated bill has been introduced by Senator Aronberg.  It requests Congress to enact a national health care program that has a comprehensive range of benefits. FLARA worked with Senator Aronberg to draft the language in this bill.
 
SB 1528  (Senator Deutch) Affordable Housing for Seniors. This is a priority FLARA bill that was first introduced three years ago. The bill requires local comprehensive plans to include an element for affordable housing for seniors. Under current law, local comprehensive plans are required to include housing elements for low-income, very low-income and moderate-income families, mobile homes, group home facilities and foster care facilities but not for seniors. FLARA supports including this language in SB 262 (Senator Bennett) and CS/HB 665 (Representative Aubuchon).
 

SB 146 (Senator Rich) and HB 153 (Representative Pafford) Senior Services/Independent Special Districts.  These bills would permit each county, subject to the approval by voters, to levy an ad valorem tax for the purpose of funding services for seniors.  This important legislation gives local elected officials the ability to secure additional funding for such programs as meals on wheels, senior housing, and community care for the elderly programs.
  
SB 844 (Senator Bennett) and HB 825 (Representative Sachs) Protects seniors from annuity fraud. This bill increases the penalty for annuity fraud from a misdemeanor to a felony. Annuity fraud occurs when an agent purposely misleads a customer to get the customer to alter a current policy or to purchase a new policy with a different company or convinces a customer to withdraw funds from one product to fund another product. Last year the CFO's office opened 270 annuity fraud investigations.

SB 1746 (Senator Lawson) Retiree Health Insurance Subsidy. This bill increases the current $5 per month health insurance subsidy to $6 per month on January 1, 2011 for retirees covered by the Florida Retirement System. The maximum monthly benefit would increase from $150 to $180. This legislation has been supported by FLARA for several years. The subsidy would increase to $7 per month on January 1, 2012.

SB 2030 (Senator Fasano) and HB 1253 (Representative Proctor) Continuing Care Facilities.  Strengthens application process and Increases financial requirements for continuing care facilities to improve quality of services in continuing care facilities.

SB 1232 (Senator Fasano) and HB 715 (Representative Patronis) Health Services Claims.  Authorizes appeals from denials of claims because the claimant or provider failed to obtain the necessary authorization due to an unintentional act or error or omission. Requires a health insurer or an HMO to conduct a retrospective review of the medical necessity of a service if a provider appeals a denial. Requires health insurers and HMOs to submit a written justification for a determination that a service was not medically necessary and provide a process for appealing the determination.

SB 1406  (Senator Lawson) and HB 675 (Representative Rehwinkel Vasilinda) Recreates Florida's Intangible tax. These important bills would provide much needed revenue and make Florida's tax system less regressive by taxing certain assets of wealthy Floridians. Florida has the second most regressive tax system of the 50 states. The bill recreates the annual intangible personal property tax that was repealed under the Jeb Bush administration.  The bill is titled the "Millionaire's Tax Act."
   
SJR 440 (Senator Gelber) and HJR 241 (Representative Fitzgerald) Expanding Public's Access/Legislative Process.  These important bills would place language on the ballot that would amend Florida's constitution to make needed reforms to the legislative process.  The new constitutional language would make the legislative process more open to the public and improve the budget process to require greater justification for each budget item. The bill also makes it more difficult for the legislature to amend bills in the closing days of the session to help prevent amendments from being adopted that have not been sufficiently researched or are not fully understood.

SB 2586  (Senator Rich) and HB 739 (Zapata) Strengthens Health Care Regulation. Revises provisions relating to the requirement for certain medical facilities to maintain an internal risk management program and submit adverse incident reports. Specifies the duties and responsibilities for the home health agency administrator, director of nursing, nurses, therapists, home health aides, and certified nursing assistants. Revises provisions relating to home health service agreements, plans of care, and the supervision of services.

HB 1283 (Representative Brayon) and SB 2316 (Senator Hill).  Creates "Florida Hospital Patient Protection Act"; provides minimum staffing level requirements for health care facility; prohibits mandatory overtime; prohibits use of video cameras or monitors by facility as substitute for required level of care; requires facility to annually evaluate staffing levels & update staffing plan; prohibits   facility from assigning unlicensed personnel to perform tasks performed by licensed or registered nurses.

HB 817 (Anderson) and SB 1102 (Senator Fasano) Assisted Living Facilities.  Specifies conditions for relocation or termination of residency in assisted living facility's resident bill of rights; requires administrator or designated employee of facility to sign notice of relocation or termination of residency & requires physician’s signature; requires licensee to provide written notice to   resident and other specified persons prior to relocation or termination of   residency.

CS/SB 336 (Governmental Oversight and Accountability and Senator Storms) and CS/HB 91 (Elder & Family Services Policy and Representative Wood) Adult Protective Services.  Requires that the central abuse hotline, which is maintained by the Department of Children and Family Services, immediately transfer reports relating to vulnerable adults to the appropriate county sheriff's office. Authorizes the department to file a petition to determine incapacity. Prohibits the department from acting as guardian or providing legal counsel to the guardian.
 
SB 1822 (Senator Bennett) and HB 793 (Representative (Renuart) Cardiology Services.  Requires emergency medical services providers to transport certain cardiac patients to the most appropriate facility and specify a facility preference. Requires medical directors of such providers to develop and implement certain protocols for assessment, treatment, and transportation of cardiac patients. Requires a local medical facility to notify the medical director of the local emergency medical services provider of its change in status.
 
SB 1958 (Senator Justice) and HB 1117 (Randolph) Medicaid Fraud.  Requires that the Department of Health deny, revoke, suspend, or refuse to issue or renew a permit or certificate of certain applicants, permittees, or certificate holders that have been convicted of, or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to, regardless of adjudication, a felony involving Medicaid fraud. Requires that the Office of Insurance Regulation revoke a certificate of authority of a health insurer for the same reason, etc.
 
HB 1521 (Representative Llorente) Health Care Fraud; Prohibits AHCA from issuing initial license to home health agency for purpose of opening new home health agency under certain conditions until specified date; provides exception that authorizes AHCA to issue change-of-ownership license to home health agency until specified date; revises grounds on which agency may deny or revoke application for initial license, change-of-ownership license, or licensure renewal.

H1125 (Representative A. Williams) and SB 2142 (Senator Lawson) Medicaid Postpartum Benefits.  Provides for continuation of Medicaid   coverage for women who deliver a low-birth weight or premature baby or experienced a fetal death eligible for a two-year period postpartum.

PRESS RELEASE

Florida Alliance for Retired Americans                                                   CONTACT:

12773 W Forest Hill Blvd, Suite 211                                     Tony Fransetta, President

Wellington, FL  33414                                                                        561-792-8799 or

FLORIDA ALLIANCE FOR RETIRED AMERICANS URGES CONGRESS TO USE MEDICARE PROGRAM AS THE PUBLIC OPTION IN HEALTH CARE REFORM

TAMPA – The board of directors of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans has approved a resolution urging Congress to use an expanded Medicare program as the “public plan” in national health care reform legislation.

Given that Congress is now considering including a public health insurance plan as part of national health care reform legislation, it is important the public plan be as economical and efficient as possible. Health care costs are increasing at an unsustainable rate and are constraining economic recovery.

Creating a new public plan that would provide essentially the same health care services as Medicare does would waste tax dollars because a new administrative and reimbursement structure would have to be created for the new “public option” program.

Tony Fransetta, the president of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, which as 230,000 members in Florida, states that,  “The Medicare program enjoys broad public support, is available everywhere, has low administrative costs, and is an example of a very successful government health care program.”

The resolution adopted today states that:

·        Employers and the public should be able to “buy into” Medicare as an alternative to purchasing private health insurance.

·        The Medicare Payment Advisory commission should be specifically charged with developing provider reimbursement methods that strengthen reimbursement for necessary and beneficial medical procedures.

·        The Medicare program should be substantially strengthened, particularly to promote preventive health practices and to prevent, detect and prosecute fraud.

The Florida Alliance for Retired Americans is a thriving statewide activist retiree organization – over 200,000 strong, and over three million nationally.  We aim to influence government on retiree legislative and political issues at the federal, state and local levels. Our mission is to ensure social and economic justice and full civil rights for all citizens, so they may enjoy lives of dignity, personal and family fulfillment and security.  The Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, formerly known as the Florida State Council of Senior Citizens was founded in 1963; President Lyndon Johnson said, “Without the National Council of Senior Citizens there would have been no Medicare.”

www.flara.org                                  FloridaARA@aol.com                   www.retiredamericans.org

FL Consumer Group’s Prescription for Health Reform: We Cannot Afford Inaction

The Florida Public Interest Research Group is a consumer watchdog based in Tallahassee that traces its roots back to the “Unsafe at Any Speed” days of Ralph Nader, in the 1970s. Today, the biggest consumer issue of all is health care access.

As part of our continuing series of Q & As on health care reform, we’ve asked Florida PIRG for its perspective on the health reform plan contemplated in Washington.

Richard Polangin is Florida PIRG’s health care policy coordinator. As a former legislative analyst and bill drafter, he has 20 years of experience looking at documents like the 1,000-page House health bill. Polangin had this to say about the document:

On Call: What do you see in the House health care draft that’s good for Floridians?

Polangin: Several things:

• The House bill fosters competition among private plans to drive costs down.
• It will give people the option to buy into a public plan with an essential benefits package that includes preventive services, mental health services, oral heath and vision for children. It will cap out-of pocket costs.
• Private plans will no longer be able to deny coverage to persons with health problems.
• If we like our current plan, we can keep it. If we don’t like what we have, or if we don’t have coverage, we will always have good alternatives to choose from as health insurance companies will be competing more effectively with each other and with a high quality, affordable public plan.
• People will be able to change jobs and keep their coverage.
• The bill reduces costs by permitting the federal government to negotiate for drug prices in Medicare.

If we don’t act now, health care costs will only continue to rise. People are struggling to pay health care costs and make ends meets. Now is the time to fix the system so we have quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

On Call: Any red flags in the bill? What are they?

Polangin: The Congressional Budget Office has recently released a report that indicates the House legislation does not significantly reduce the growth of health spending. Reducing the “cost curve” is crucial to ensuring that the legislation does not add to the federal budget deficit and serves to make health care affordable in the future.

It will be important to make sure that this legislation contains significant cost control — have a group of independent health care experts make recommendations that Congress approves, for example, using comparative medical research to educate consumers and providers.

Medicare should be able to use comparative data to decide on the best treatments, and be able to reduce payments to high-cost hospitals and to inefficient physicians. This could reduce unnecessary tests and procedures. Containing costs is essential if we hope to get our economy going again.

On Call: So how can we afford what’s in the bill? Who pays?

Polangin: We can’t afford not to have health care reform now.
Health care premiums are expected to double in the next 8 years which is going to dramatically increase the number of uninsured and eat a much bigger portion of middle class incomes. We have to drive down costs and we have a historic opportunity to do that primarily by creating a public plan that can compete with the private market.
The bill requires everyone to pay, both individuals and businesses. This keeps our employer sponsored health care system in place and makes it the responsibility of everyone to share in the costs.
It’s important to note that the American Medical Association has announced support for this legislation. The AMA has historically opposed significant health care reform proposals and they opposed the creation of Medicare in the 1960’s.
The challenge will be to ensure that the legislation does not add to the federal deficit and to ensure that is slows the persistent increase in health costs.

(On Call: Where do you see battle lines being drawn? Who’s going to fight this?

Polangin: We expect some business lobbies like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses to be opposed to the bill’s requirement that employers either provide coverage or pay an assessment.
Health insurance companies are also expected to be opposed because they fear that the public plan will be unfair competition.
We expect individuals who believe in small government and an individual’s right to go without health care coverage to also be opposed to the proposals.