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AARP Florida: Florida seniors to be hard hit by 2008 budget; only a few bright spots in legislative session

TALLAHASSEE –As Florida copes with the worst state budget crisis in 40 years, Floridians 50+ will not be able to escape the pain from a tough 2008 legislative session and a shrinking state budget.

State lawmakers also failed a major test on property insurance reform.

But state leaders avoided some actions that could have seriously harmed the state’s older residents and darkened the state’s future, AARP Florida State Director Lori Parham said Friday.

“In a year in which Floridians are facing long odds, the 2008 legislative session too often fell short,” Parham said as lawmakers adjourned. “We recognize that the Florida Legislature managed to soften the worst impacts of a disastrous fiscal situation, given their decision not to raise additional resources. Also, legislators avoided what could have been serious errors, ranging from imposing rigid state revenue caps to totally abolishing nursing home care standards for Florida’s most frail residents."

"But even this session’s successes were weak,” Parham said.

Budget cuts softened by drawing on reserves

Lawmakers managed to avoid the worst cuts targeting the Medically Needy program, which provides care for Floridians who lack health coverage but have slightly too many assets to qualify for Medicaid. By drawing on state reserves, lawmakers agreed to provide care for 19,500 Floridians in that program and also saved a program that helps another 24,000 frail elders and disabled individuals age 65 or older not eligible for Medicare to get services in their homes and communities.

Major failure on hurricane-insurance fund reform

Lawmakers waited until the last days of the session to address a looming crisis in property insurance reform – then fell short for Florida consumers.

Working closely with state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, and Rep. Ron Reagan, R-Sarasota, had proposed needed reforms of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund to encourage greater private investment in reinsurance. The reforms were intended to reduce the impact and severity of insurance assessments on Floridians’ home and auto insurance policies in the wake of the next major Florida hurricane.

Top lawmakers failed to bring the bill to a final vote. “The state’s leaders have missed an important opportunity to protect Floridians and our state’s economic security,” Parham said. AARP had strongly supported the proposal. “We can only hope this failure doesn’t come back to haunt Floridians as a result of Florida’s 2008 hurricane season.”

Avoiding disaster on nursing standards, some progress on consumer bills

Among issues important to AARP, legislators:

- Abandoned a proposal to completely eliminate state standards for certified nursing care for Florida nursing home residents. However, in a late-session move, legislators relaxed nursing care standards for one year and chopped more than $163 million in Medicaid nursing home reimbursements from the state budget. The cuts will make it more difficult for Florida nursing homes to provide quality care to frail, vulnerable residents.

- Created tools to help uninsured Floridians shop for higher-quality, lower-cost care. The legislation, by Sen. Charles Dean, R-Inverness and Rep. Juan Zapata, R-Miami, requires hospitals to provide uninsured consumers good-faith estimates for the costs of non-emergency procedures. It also strengthens requirements that consumers be provided clear, understandable information about the quality of health care delivered by providers.

- Did not expand a troubled Medicaid reform pilot project into Miami-Dade County. The inspector general for the state Agency for Health Care Administration has found that the program includes serious flaws and that there is no clear evidence that the program saves taxpayer dollars, as advocates claimed it would. Under a provision sponsored by Rep. Zapata and Sen. Durrell Peaden, R-Okaloosa, and supported by AARP, the state may convene workgroups to propose alternatives for health and long-term care reforms, including Medicaid reforms.

- Enacted tougher penalties for unscrupulous insurance agents and financial advisors who targeted older Floridians for questionable investment scams. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Tampa, and Rep. Clay Ford, R-Pensacola, developed in consultation with CFO Sink (a Democrat), particularly focused on “twisting” and “churning,” sales practices aimed at convincing older investors to shift resources from sound investments into annuities with high fees and unreasonable maturity dates. AARP is pleased this bill passed but would have preferred that violators face a felony, as the initial bill proposed, rather than a misdemeanor if convicted of this crime.

- Enacted a good first step toward protection for consumers facing foreclosure on their homes by approving legislation by Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, and Rep. Ford providing some foreclosure protections. Fasano and Ford worked closely on the bill with Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum (R), whose office helped develop the bill.

- Softened the impact of legislation intended on Florida utility customers of legislation intended to encourage the development of “green energy.” AARP had raised concerns that by ordering utility companies to obtain set percentages of the electricity they generate through solar power or any other type of renewable energy, without regard to cost, legislators could potentially add to lower-income Floridians’ burdens at a time of financial hardship.

In the final legislation, sponsored by Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, and Reps. Stan Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, and Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, lawmakers will require the state Public Service Commission to evaluate renewable energy sources on cost and environmental effectiveness. Lawmakers will review PSC recommendations on which “green” strategies give Florida consumers the best results.

- Rejected rigid revenue caps on state and local government proposed for the state Constitution. AARP fought the proposal in the state Taxation and Budget Reform Commission and also opposed similar proposals in the Legislature.

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