Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer will be paying more than $2.3 million on behalf of its wholly owned subsidiary Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd. to the Florida Medicaid program.

Florida’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit secured the win through a multistate action, after whistleblowers filed lawsuits against the company alleging that Biohaven had been giving health practitioners kickbacks to hawk their products to patients, specifically the migraine headache treatment Nurtec ODT, according to the Florida Office of the Attorney General.

In the settlement agreement from the U.S. Department of Justice, it states health care providers were paid these kickbacks to present at various speaker programs that were held virtually, in a provider’s office, or at other offsite venues, such as high-end restaurants.

It was alleged the providers then tried to persuade their colleagues to prescribe Nurtec to Medicaid and other federal health care beneficiaries — a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.

Biohaven had paid providers up to $100,000 to host speaker programs, which in some cases were attended by the provider’s spouse, family, friends, and colleagues from their own practices, despite there being no educational need for them to attend the program.

It was further alleged that some providers attended multiple speaking events, receiving expensive meals and drinks all paid for by Biohaven in order to influence the providers to prescribe Nurtec to their patients.

“I’m incredibly proud of our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for leading the way in holding Biohaven accountable. Actions, like those alleged here, must be stopped to prevent health care fraud,” acting Florida Attorney General John Guard said in a statement.

Investigations into the allegations against Biohaven were launched by the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units team, who negotiated settlements alongside the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York. Attorney general offices from California, New York, and Virginia were also involved in the investigation.

In total, Pfizer agree to pay $2,300,449 to the Florida Medicaid program, and will pay millions with interest to Puerto Rico, the U.S., and 37 other states to resolve the lawsuits, with the settlement topping $59 million.

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Boca Raton Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky already has a fleet of bills filed for the coming Legislative Session. Their focus ranges from abortion, gun safety and medical cannabis use to property taxes, text spamming and campaign finance.

Many are re-runs, she said, because the changes they propose are still very much needed.

Atop the list is SB 288, which Polsky described as a “very mild” adjustment to Florida’s existing ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

The bill would enable abortion after six weeks if it’s necessary to prolong the woman’s life or prevent morbidity of a major body part, including “substantial impairment” to her fertility. Currently, the law allows for post-six-week abortions only to save the mother’s life or prevent “serious risk of substantial physical impairment.”

SB 288, which pends a House companion, would require only one physician to determine if a later-than-six-weeks abortion is necessary, rather than two as Florida law now mandates. It would also nix a requirement that a doctor certify their judgment in writing.

“Basically, we’re looking to expand (what constitutes) medical emergencies so doctors and hospitals can treat their patients without worrying about being sued, losing their license or going to jail,” Polsky told Florida Politics.

Polsky referenced an ad opposing Amendment 4, a failed ballot measure from last year aimed at codifying abortion protections in the Florida Constitution, which told viewers that pregnant women with life- or health-threatening medical emergencies could still be treated. In reality, she said, that hasn’t entirely been the case.

“The language in the original bill is just too restrictive. I have a constituent who bled out and had a miscarriage in a salon bathroom because the hospital turned her away. That’s not acceptable,” she said. “We’re trying to keep women from dying, as they have in Georgia and Texas. This is really a pro-life bill.”

Two related bills aimed at helping legal pot users are also on the docket.

One (SB 142), would add protections for government employees with medical use cards from termination. Oakland Park Democratic Rep. Mitch Rosenwald is carrying its House analog.

The other (SB 146) would ensure that parents with medical marijuana clearance won’t have their parental rights denied or restricted solely because they have a card.

Polsky, who practices labor and employment law, said Florida’s restrictions on medical cannabis use don’t make sense when considering federal disability laws.

“If you had to take Xanax for a mental health condition, they couldn’t fire you for that, but they can fire you for using medical marijuana for the same mental health condition. It doesn’t make sense,” she said.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I substance alongside heroin and considers the drug to have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Polsky said that’s a big roadblock she’s “disappointed didn’t get taken care of by the (Joe) Biden administration.

“But still, if Florida is going to maintain this medical marijuana card, then people should not have adverse employment or parental actions as a result of using something legally as long as it doesn’t affect their job or ability to parent,” she said.

Polsky is carrying several gun-related bills. They include:

— SB 256, named “Jaime’s Law” after 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg, one of the many victims of the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) in Parkland. The bill would apply to ammunition sales many of the same strictures currently in effect for firearms. Coral Springs Democratic Rep. Dan Daley, an MSD alum, is carrying its House twin.

— SB 252, dubbed the “Responsible Gun Ownership Act.” It would mandate universal background checks for firearm sales and transfers, strengthen safe storage standards and require every gun sold to include educational materials on responsible gun ownership and either a trigger lock or gun case. The measure would also ban the possession or manufacture of unfinished firearms without serial numbers, including so-called “ghost guns” made with a 3D printer. Democratic Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, who was the Mayor of Parkland when the MSD shooting occurred, is again sponsoring the House version.

— SB 238, to which Daley is carrying a House analog. The bill would enable local governments to pass stricter gun regulations.

— SB 254, which would expand the definition of “machine gun” to include any gun modified to fire at a faster rate. The measure, essentially, is an answer to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year to undo a ban on bump stocks effectuated during President Donald Trump’s first administration after one was used in the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre in Las Vegas.

Polsky lamented efforts by her GOP colleagues in recent years to roll back safety measures the Legislature enacted after the MSD shooting, such as a bill Palm City Republican Rep. Toby Overdorf filed this month to delete Florida’s bump stock ban from state statutes so that it’ll match federal law.

“I don’t understand this backwards trend we’re seeing,” she said. “As the Senator of Parkland, I want to do everything I can to keep that good work going and go further to keep Floridians safe”

Three more bills are high on Polsky’s to-do list. One, which she hasn’t yet filed, would remove the sunset date of a bill she and Hollywood Democratic Rep. Marie Woodson passed in 2022 to give property tax exemptions to people whose homes were damaged during a natural or man-made disaster.

The current law is set to expire in July. The update, Polsky said, would allow it to continue in perpetuity.

Another (SB 245) isn’t likely to be popular with people maddened by the seemingly nonstop political texts that went out last year. Florida cracked down two years ago with a law banning spam text messages sent to recipients who opted out of receiving them. An attractive feature in that measure was that people could sue for damages against the unwanted sender.

Polsky’s bill would exempt nonprofit organizations, including political groups and campaigns, from that liability. That was the intent of the original legislation, she said, but nonprofits have nevertheless still been taken to court, though every case has been tossed.

“Nobody likes that we were all bombarded by political campaigns, but this law wasn’t meant to affect nonprofit organizations,” she said. “I don’t want a cottage industry to start where if I can’t stand Donald Trump and he sends me a lot of texts and I try to unsubscribe and it keeps coming, I can sue him for that. Because that’s what is starting to happen.”

The last priority bill (SB 216) is one that more people are likely to get behind. It would simply provide that a state agency cannot use state funds — taxpayer dollars — to advocate for or against any matter that is the subject of a constitutional amendment or revision.

It’s Polsky’s answer to what Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration did last year by leveraging state resources and funds to defeat a pair of constitutional amendments meant to guarantee abortion access and legalize recreational marijuana.

“I am so disgusted by how much state money was spent for political purposes,” she said.

The regular 2025 Legislative Session commences March 4 and runs through May 2.

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President Donald Trump’s top diplomat and his main spokesperson on Wednesday walked back the idea that he wants the permanent relocation of Palestinians from Gaza, after American allies and even Republican lawmakers rebuffed his suggestion that the U.S. take “ownership” of the territory.

Trump on Tuesday had called for “permanently” resettling Palestinians from war-torn Gaza and left open the door to deploying American troops there as part of a massive rebuilding operation. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said he only sought to move the roughly 1.8 million Gazans temporarily to allow for reconstruction.

Even that proposal has drawn criticism from Palestinians, who are worried they may never be allowed back in if they flee, and from the Arab nations that Trump has called on to take them in.

Rubio, on his first foreign trip as secretary of state, described Trump’s proposal as a “very generous” offer to help with debris removal and reconstruction of the enclave following 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

“In the interim, obviously people are going to have to live somewhere while you’re rebuilding it,” Rubio said in a news conference in Guatemala City.

Leavitt said in a briefing with reporters in Washington that Gaza is “a demolition site” and referenced footage of the devastation.

“The President has made it clear that they need to be temporarily relocated out of Gaza,” she said, calling it currently “an uninhabitable place for human beings” and saying it would be “evil to suggest that people should live in such dire conditions.”

Their comments contradicted Trump, who said Tuesday night, “If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.” He added that he envisioned “long-term” U.S. ownership of a redevelopment of the territory, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea.

In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military is “prepared to look at all options” for rebuilding Gaza.

“We look forward to working with our allies, our counterparts, both diplomatically and militarily, to look at all options,” Hegseth said.

Egypt, Jordan and other U.S. allies in the Mideast have cautioned Trump that relocating Palestinians from Gaza would threaten Mideast stability, risk expanding the conflict and undermine a decades-long push by the U.S. and its allies for a two-state solution.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry issued a sharply worded reaction to Trump, noting its long call for an independent Palestinian state was a “firm, steadfast and unwavering position.” Saudi Arabia has been in negotiations with the U.S. over a deal to diplomatically recognize Israel in exchange for a security pact and other terms.

“The duty of the international community today is to work to alleviate the severe human suffering endured by the Palestinian people, who will remain committed to their land and will not budge from it,” the Saudi statement said.

Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican and a Trump ally, called it “problematic.”

“The idea of Americans going in on the ground in Gaza is a non-starter for every Senator,” the South Carolina lawmaker told reporters Wednesday. “So I would suggest we go back to what we’ve been trying to do which is destroy Hamas and find a way for the Arab world to take over Gaza and the West Bank, in a fashion that would lead to a Palestinian state that Israel can live with.”

Rubio insisted that Trump’s position “was not meant as a hostile move.”

“What he’s very generously has offered is the ability of the United States to go in and help with debris removal, help with munitions removal, help with reconstruction, the rebuilding homes and businesses and things of this nature so that then people can move back in,” Rubio said.

Still, the White House said Trump was ruling out sending U.S. dollars to aid in the reconstruction of Gaza.

But Leavitt, like Trump, refused to rule out sending American troops into Gaza, saying of Trump, “he wants to preserve that leverage in negotiations.”

The Palestinians, Arab nations and others have rejected even a temporary relocation from Gaza, which would run counter to decades of U.S. policy calling for the creation of a Palestinian state with no further displacement of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.

The proposals also appear to trash months of negotiations by the Biden administration to draft a “day after” plan for the reconstruction and governance of Gaza. President Joe Biden had tried to lock in that plan — which calls for joint governance of the territory by the Palestinian Authority under U.N. stewardship and a multi-national peacekeeping force — before leaving office by inviting Trump’s main Mideast envoy into final talks over a Gaza ceasefire.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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