November 16, 2011
[VIDEO] By Sarah Pusateri – The rhetoric of abstinence – you’ve heard it: “It’s great to wait.” And “true love waits.” But does it work? While the state has refused millions of dollars in federal grants for many health care programs, they have accepted money for abstinence education – $2.6 million each year through 2014. So what exactly is Florida doing with those federal tax dollars?
October 31, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Florida Republican lawmakers are proud there are no denials in transitioning people out of nursing homes. However, just because there’s no one on the state waiting list, it doesn’t mean there aren’t people who can come out. Many people are healthy enough to leave the nursing home and continue their care at home – but end up trapped because state programs don’t fund certain costs that transitions may require, like a moving van. In comes federal officials who awarded Florida $35.7 million in a program called Money Follows the Person, covering those gaps left by the state. But the state refuses to use those dollars.
October 19, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Yes, Florida is actively competing for a federal grant. A $100 million federal grant. And with Gov. Rick Scott’s blessing. Albeit conditional. The state’s Office of Early Learning has submitted its application for the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant. It’s one of four states competing for a whopping $100 million which would give children access to early childhood education, better preparing them for school and life.
September 14, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – The Florida Department of Health is setting the record straight over last week’s confusion following the Legislative Budget Commission’s approval of the $3.4 million Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting grant. One objector, Rep. Matt Hudson (R-Naples), told HealthyState after the vote that the program doesn’t provide a direct service. However, the DOH is emphasizing that the case workers sent to the homes of new and expecting moms (upon their request), do, indeed, administer health care and support – and not just give referrals to other programs or services.
September 7, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – The Legislative Budget Commission approved Gov. Rick Scott’s request for budget authority over the the $3.4 million Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program grant Wednesday. The vote paves the way for eligibility to the competitive Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge federal grant, which could bring in up to $100 million to the state to make further improvements to early childhood education. “I can tell you that I voted ‘no’, but obviously there was a majority that voted ‘yes’,” said Rep. Matt Hudson (R-Naples), a member of the LBC.
September 6, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – As far as Gov. Scott is concerned, Florida has officially rejected the $1 million federal grant intended for the creation of the state health insurance exchange, the governor’s office confirms. Florida has until Sept. 30th to spend the grant. Otherwise, it will be re-allocated by the Department of Health and Human Services – most likely distributed to other states who have a need for the money. While it was reported in February that Florida was declining to spend the federal funding, critics speculated that a refusal was different from an outright rejection, believing that state officials were hedging their bets in case the federal health care law were to be deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court.
September 2, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Florida House Representative Darryl Rouson (D-St. Petersburg), a member of the Legislative Budget Commission, expects next week’s vote on the $3.4 million Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program grant to be positive. “I think I can predict this will pass,” said Rouson. “The bigger objective is to be eligible for the $100 million ‘Race to the Top-Early Challenge’ grant.” Eligibility for the $100 million early childhood education grant hinges upon Florida’s participation in the MIECHV grant – a voluntary program that sends case workers to the homes of new and pregnant mothers to administer health care, education and support.
September 1, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Florida House Rep. Joe Gibbons (D-Pembroke Park) applauds Gov. Scott’s visit to the Legislative Budget Commission next week to ask that the federal $3.4 million Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program grant be approved. “I think the Governor’s leadership is very important here. He is actually taking a leadership role that benefits the state of Florida,” said Gibbons. “He’s not being an ideologue. He’s putting ideology aside and putting the state of Florida and its children first.” Gov. Scott will go before the Commission on Sept. 7th.
August 31, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Governor Scott is going to the Legislative Budget Commission and advocating for the release of the $3.4 million federal grant that provides home visits to new and expectant mothers. He had earlier advocated for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program grant on behalf of the Department of Health in February, but budget authority was denied by the Commission on grounds that the funds are appropriated by the Affordable Care Act. That denial has put at risk the $100 million Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant in which eligibility hinges upon Florida’s participation in the home visiting grant.
August 23, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Final guidance released by the U.S. Department of Education Tuesday indicates that Florida may be in a bit of a pickle when it comes to being eligible for the $100 million “Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge” grant. The federal grant is tied to the $3.4 million Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood and Home Visiting Program grant, which the state Legislature has refused the Department of Health the authority to spend. A spokesperson for Gov. Rick Scott says the governor’s office is reviewing the grant’s criteria and is determining the state’s eligibility.
August 18, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – The $3.4 million federal grant that funds home visits to new and expectant mothers has not been rejected by the state and is still available for use, confirms the Florida Department of Health. In this past legislative session, lawmakers denied both the governor and the DOH’s request to spend the Maternal, Infant and Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program grant. Currently, the DOH is reviewing returning to the Legislature in 2012 to request the authority to spend the funds.
August 15, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Democratic State Senator Nan Rich (D-Sunrise) is firing back at state Republicans in the decision to accept federal dollars for abstinence education while declining to use tens of millions of dollars for other health care programs. “There’s a great deal of hypocrisy in this, that the governor and legislative leaders have turned down $50 or $60 million or more – money that would help Floridians,” says Rich. “And then instead, we have money coming in for a controversial program – abstinence only – which has not been effective.” Last week, a spokeswoman for Speaker Dean Cannon defended the legislature’s decision to accept over two and a half million dollars supporting Abstinence Education because the source of the funding changed from the …
August 10, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Health care advocates say it’s counterproductive to not use the $35.7 million* of federal funding available to transition people out of nursing homes. “Given the landmark Medicaid reform bill [passed by the Legislature], there are incentives in the bill to move people back into the community,” says Martina Brawer, executive director of the Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living (FACIL). “It saves taxpayer money.”
August 5, 2011
[VIDEO] By Kimberly Vlach – Call it nuance, but technically, Florida hasn’t rejected the $35.7 million* Money Follows the Person grant. It’s just that the Legislature isn’t releasing the funds. The Money Follows the Person grant helps transition the elderly and the disabled out of nursing homes – and Governor Scott is supportive of it.
August 4, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park) defends his position in using federal funds from the Affordable Care Act for the state Abstinence Education Program. “These grants represent a continuation of existing funding for programs we have committed to and been engaged in for years,” says Katie Betta, spokesperson for Cannon. The statewide campaign, It’s Great to Wait, has been awarded $2.6 million a year through 2014, with the state adding its share of about $2 million per year.
August 2, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – As Florida lawmakers walk away from federal funding for health care-related programs, HealthyState.org has learned it has accepted a federal grant that restores funding for the State Abstinence Program. Appropriations authorized by the Affordable Care Act give the state $2.6 million per year from fiscal year 2010 through 2014. Is it hypocrisy or is it principle?
July 27, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Recent reports regarding the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program grant have pinned the sum of federal funds that Florida has turned away at around $50 million. However, it’s not that cut and dry.
July 25, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Even though Florida has passed up the $3.4 million Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood and Home Visiting Program grant, it may still be eligible for the $100 million federal Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge grant. “At this time, we’re working to verify this with the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education,” says Dr. Brittany Birken, CEO of the Florida Children’s Services Council.
By Kimberly Vlach – Controversy stems from the original $3.4 million Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood and Home Visiting program grant, which was awarded to Florida for the 2011-2012 fiscal year by the Department of Health and Human Services as a part of the Affordable Care Act. However, the State Legislature turned down the money. And as a result, the state was ineligible for the second round of funding valued at $4.9 million. That deadline was July 21, 2011.
July 22, 2011
By Kimberly Vlach – Florida has left over $90 million of federal funds on the table, walking away from virtually free money. Those funds were gateway funds that, by taking those monies, would’ve opened the doors to an additional $100 million in grants given by the federal government. Every state across the nation is implementing austerity measures in order to shore up their state budgets, Florida no different. So the big question hanging over these decisions to turn away tens of millions of federal dollars is: Who’s to blame?