Florida-April 13, 2022: The final state budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year includes nearly $49 billion in taxpayer funding for health care related spending in Florida.
Florida had more funds to work with primarily because of an influx of federal funds from President Biden's American Rescue Plan, as well as an improved state economy.
While progress was made on some aspects of health care, in its review of the 2022 Florida legislative session 'Florida Voices for Health' reports that "Florida legislators missed some important opportunities to make health care more affordable and accessible for Floridians."
The budget includes:
• $1 billion for Medicaid health care providers, including nursing home staffers, to push the minimum wage up to $15 per hour.
• 7% increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing homes, but only if they allow a public review of their financials.
• $85 million in extra funding for certain children’s hospitals, $156 million for cancer treatment hospitals and $50 million to outlier hospitals.
• Eliminates nearly all of the state's $300 million Critical Care Fund, which is used to reimburse the 28 hospitals that treat most of the state’s critically ill adults and children covered by Medicaid.
• $41.9 million appropriation to take approximately 789 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities off the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) waiver waitlist. Unfortunately, there are 22,759 individuals on the waitlist.
• The 2022 Session Health Care Debrief PDF (below) features background on Florida's health care landscape and a review of legislation that passed and failed.
The total state budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year amounts to $112.1 billion. That is 10% more than the current fiscal year’s $101.5 billion budget.
The 2022 Florida legislative session ended on March 14.
