Hope Florida’s omission in budget requests raises questions from key lawmaker

The embattled Hope Florida program is missing in legislative budget requests from both the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and the Department of Children and Families (DCF), raising questions about the charity’s future and current status.

It’s unclear what is happening with charity navigators at Hope Florida, which has been in the hot seat this year over a Medicaid spending scandal.

Since Hope Florida is omitted from the LBRs, does that mean it’s dead or is it being shifted elsewhere?

“It’s possible they’re trying to simply ‘rebrand’ them or something. Until we have a longer, more in depth discussion with the agencies, I’m not sure which is the case,” said Republican Rep. Alex Andrade, a leading critic of Hope Florida, when Florida Politics reached out for comment.

AHCA and DCF did not respond to questions sent Wednesday.

Hope Florida charity navigators give one-on-one help with people who are struggling. However, some lawmakers have argued that Hope Florida duplicates services that already exist.

“Obviously, eliminating a poorly thought out initiative that injects unlicensed social workers into the process of constituent case work is a good idea from my perspective, but I can’t say if that’s the case or not, simply based on the LBRs,” Andrade added when asked about Hope Florida’s future.

“I haven’t seen any amendments to all the aggressive language in the managed care contracts. If they are truly eliminating the program, I’ll expect them to clean up their managed care contracts to clarify those terms are no longer enforceable.”

Hope Florida, backed by First Lady Casey DeSantis, came under fire this year as revelations emerged that the organization received a $10 million Medicaid settlement. Much of that money later ended up in the coffers of a political committee to fight the marijuana legalization effort. That committee was under the control of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ then-Chief of Staff, James Uthmeier.

Today, Uthmeier is Florida’s Attorney General. Both Ron DeSantis and Uthmeier have defended themselves and argued they did nothing wrong. DeSantis accused Andrade of trying to smear him as Andrade led a House subcommittee probe into Hope Florida this year.

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