DeSantis signs ‘Live Healthy’ package spending $1.5 billion to bolster health care programs

Medical personnel in hospital. (Photo by Don Murray/Getty Images)

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Thursday a package of bills aimed at increasing the number of health care workers and promoting innovation in the industry. Over the next 10 years, the laws, which state lawmakers prioritized during this year’s legislative session, will cost the state $1.5 billion.

The four pieces of legislation (SB 7016, SB 7018, SB 330, and SB 1758) DeSantis signed during a press conference in southwest Florida make up the “Live Healthy” initiative spearheaded by Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.

The plan focuses on retaining and attracting health care workers to the state, creating a loan program for innovative health care projects, establishing behavioral health teaching hospitals, and providing at-home and community-based services to Floridians with disabilities.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signs the “Live Healthy” bill package on March 21, 2024. (Photo credit: Florida Channel)

“We’ve recognized the need to have a really good health care workforce. We started by putting a lot into expanding nursing training in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said during the bill signing.

“So, you have way more resources than you did four or five years ago. Part of that is to keep up with the growth, but also just understanding that that’s an issue nationwide, even in states that are not growing. To see nurses, especially as more nurses retire, you need to have more, so we’ve been really leaning in on that, and we’re excited to do that. Now, there’s a series of bills that I’m going to sign up today, and I think it builds off a lot of the success.”

The governor also signed SB 322, which is a public-records exception for identifying information for practitioners taking part in interstate licensure compacts established in SB 7016.

Passidomo and other state lawmakers who shaped the initiative, such as Republican Sens. Gayle Harrell and Colleen Burton, attended the bill signing ceremony. Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Taylor Hatch, director of the Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities, were also in attendance.

Still no Medicaid expansion in Florida

During her remarks, Passidomo emphasized the need to increase the number of health care workers in Florida as the population increases and ages.

“We need more primary-care providers who play a vital role as the main point of contact in the health care system for families and seniors,” she said. “Access to health care is important at every phase of life. Insurance including Medicaid and Medicare does not guarantee access. Even Floridians with great insurance face barriers to care. Through ‘Live Healthy’ Florida will grow the health care workforce we need to serve our communities.”

Her expectations for the initiative are lofty, as she called it a game-changer during the ceremony. As DeSantis exited the venue, Passidomo gave him a hug.

“Our state will forever be changed in a really good way,” Passidomo said.

Although “Live Healthy” bills received near-unanimous approval in the Legislature, Passidomo’s reference to Medicaid, health care coverage for low-income people, stems from criticism from Democrats and advocacy groups that the state is one of 10 that hasn’t expanded the program.

“It’s commendable that the Legislature has put together such a robust package that invests in the health care workforce as a means to increase access to care,” said Erica Monet Li, a policy analyst at Florida Policy Institute, in a statement to Florida Phoenix when the Legislature passed SB 7016 and SB 7018.

“We recognize that this workforce investment will likely have a positive impact. At the same time, we know that the most effective way to increase access to health care in our state would be to close the coverage gap by expanding Medicaid, as 40 other states have done.”

Here’s a summary on what the laws do

SB 7016, the most extensive and expensive bill in the package, pours $717 million into a variety of things, such as increasing the number of residencies so medical school graduates can finish their training in the state, and expanding the telehealth minority maternity care program and tuition reimbursement programs for health care workers.

But most of the funds earmarked in SB 7016 go toward increasing the reimbursement rate service providers receive for Medicaid patients, meaning the amount of money Florida pays for taking patients covered by Medicaid.

SB 7018 establishes a 10-year loan program for projects that implement innovative technology, create workforce pathways, and increase public access to health care. Until the fiscal year 2033-2034, the Florida Legislature must deposit $50 million each year into the loan fund.

Both SB 7016 and SB 7018 became effective once DeSantis signed them. However, certain provisions of SB 7016 have specified dates for when they go into effect.

SB 330 establishes a behavioral-health teaching hospital designation for facilities to train mental health service providers, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, and family and marriage counselors. SB 1758 addresses the 8.6-year waiting period some Floridians with disabilities go through to access state-subsidized services that help them live on their own or with their families. Those two bills go into effect on July 1.

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