With the cost of living continuing to climb, Floridians — especially seniors and those with disabilities — are facing greater challenges in affording essential health care. Lawmakers from Tallahassee to Washington, D.C., must come together to advance policies that lower costs and expand access to care.

They can do just that by adequately funding Medicare Advantage — the increasingly popular version of Medicare that leverages public-private partnerships, coordinated care, and a greater variety of more integrated benefits. Together, these features work to the “advantage” of beneficiaries, caregivers, and all Floridians by improving patient outcomes, reducing costs, and supporting healthier senior communities.

Both my time in the Florida House of Representatives and now as Chair of the Small Business and Consumers Alliance have given me a deeper understanding of the importance of the Medicare Advantage program and its positive impact on Florida families, businesses, and communities. This is one of those rare examples of a working, effective government program and, as such, it deserves the support of lawmakers in Congress.

This is especially concerning given the repeated funding cuts to Medicare Advantage in recent years — cuts that have jeopardized benefits and driven up premiums. Fortunately, the Advance Rate Notice released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services during the last couple weeks of the Joe Biden administration called for a slight payment increase. However, it will be up to Congress and the new administration to follow through, work to reverse years of cuts, and put Medicare Advantage on a stable path for the future.

Compared to traditional Medicare, beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage can choose from a wider range of health care services and support, like access to integrated prescription, vision, hearing, and dental benefits with no additional premiums, as well as fitness and nutrition benefits that help seniors focus on eating well, staying active, and participating in their communities.

On top of providing seniors and patients with disabilities with more comprehensive care, Medicare Advantage also helps deliver critical cost savings at a time when saving every penny counts. Medicare Advantage beneficiaries pay lower monthly premiums than traditional Medicare enrollees and save more money thanks to the capped annual out-of-pocket expenses that Medicare Advantage offers.

The value and benefits Medicare Advantage provides help explain the rapid growth the program has had over the last decade or so. Enrollment in Medicare Advantage in now up to over 34 million Americans, including more than 2.9 million Floridians — that’s well over half the Medicare eligible population both nationally and statewide. It is critical for lawmakers to keep this program strong so it can continue improving quality of life and contributing to stronger, healthier communities in the Sunshine State and across the country.

As lawmakers consider this issue, it is critical to note that seniors and patients with disabilities are not the only ones to benefit Medicare Advantage program. Their family members, networks of caregivers, health care teams, local small businesses, and communities all benefit from a stronger, fully funded Medicare Advantage program. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should prioritize this and ensure Medicare Advantage gets the funding and support it — and the tens of millions of Americans it serves — so greatly deserves.

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Jim Kallinger represented District 35 in the Florida House of Representatives from 2002–2004. He later served as president of the National Association of Former State Legislators and is now Chair of the Small Business and Consumers Alliance.

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Hemp regulation will again be a hot topic this Session, and to ensure lawmakers have the best information available, House Speaker Daniel Perez is assembling a short-term panel to dig into the issue.

He’s empaneling a new, but temporary, Combined Workgroup on Hemp. It’ll last for seven days beginning March 3, during which the group’s 24 members will hear from experts, regulators and industry leaders.

Perez said hemp regulation is one of “a handful of complicated, intensely lobbied issues that fall outside the personal and professional experience” of House members, and it has “repeatedly come up in conversations” lawmakers have had with him and his leadership team.

He noted that the workgroup will focus solely on gaining knowledge about hemp and the hemp industry. Meetings won’t include consideration of “legislation or specific policy proposals,” he said, nor will they be forums for “generic public testimony.”

After the meetings conclude, the workgroup’s members will be tasked with identifying additional information or resources that could help House members make informed legislative decisions.

Perez said not to read too much into his decision to create the workgroup.

“Because of the way this process sometimes works, and the tendency of lobbyists and advocates to insinuate secret meanings, let me be perfectly clear: there are no signals being sent,” he said.

“House Leadership has not adopted any position on this issue nor are we laying the predicate to do so in the future. We are not endorsing any particular bill, position, industry, or perspective. How — or even whether — we proceed with legislation on this issue this Session will be determined by all of you.”

The panel’s members include 12 members each from the Industries and Professional Activities Subcommittee and Housing, Agriculture and Tourism Subcommittee.

They include Republican Reps. Shane Abbott, Yvette Benarroch, Erika Booth, Richard Gentry, Mike Giallombardo, Peggy Gossett-Seidman, Jim Mooney, Vanessa Oliver, Toby Overdorf, Bill Partington, Juan Porras, Mike Redondo, Michelle Salzman, Judson Sapp, Chase Tramont, Kaylee Tuck and Brad Yeager, and Democratic Reps. Bruce Antone, Lindsay Cross, Anna Eskamani, Gallop Franklin, Yvonne Hinson, Felicia Robinson and Leonard Spencer.

Salzman, who chairs the Housing, Agriculture and Tourism Subcommittee, will manage the workgroup.

The hemp industry exploded across the United States following the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which established a federal framework for producing and processing the versatile crop. Among the changes the bill brought was a so-called “loophole” that allowed the production of non-cannabis hemp extract products that compete with cannabis products.

There has been a regulatory war since, between the hemp and cannabis industries, with both sides seeking to hold an overshare or monopoly of the market.

Florida lawmakers last year approved a similar regulation measure (SB 1698) that opponents warned would kill the hemp extract industry, which produces both THC products that offer psychotropic effects similar to cannabis and CBD products that offer health benefits without a “high.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis ultimately vetoed the legislation, sponsored by Republicans Colleen Burton and Tommy Gregory in the Senate and House, respectively. He cited the severe and adverse impacts it would have on Florida’s more than 100,000 workers and many small businesses in the industry, which has a more than $10 billion annual impact on the state economy.

One of SB 1698’s Democratic supporters, Tracie Davis of Jacksonville, is carrying this year’s version of the legislation (SB 1030) on the Senate. Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Hillary Cassel of Dania Beach filed its House analog (HB 601).

Neither has received a committee hearing yet.

Sarasota Republican Sen. Joe Gruters has also filed bills that would allow limited home growth of cannabis plants for personal use (SB 546) and ease requirements for medical cannabis users (SB 552).

Pensacola Republican Rep. Alex Andrade also has a lengthier proposal (HB 555) that contains aspects of both of Gruters’ bills.

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