(The Center Square) – Thursday’s hearing by the Health Care Budget Subcommittee in the Florida House of Representatives concluded after only nine minutes when two witnesses requested by the panel declined to testify.
It is unclear if the short meeting is the end of the House’s investigation.
The subcommittee was scheduled to hold hearings on Friday as well, but Rep. Alex Andrade, the committee chairman, said Thursday would be the end of the committee’s examination of the $10 million that was part of a settlement with health care giant Centene for overbilling of Medicaid for prescription drugs.
Andrade took to task attorney general and former gubernatorial Chief of Staff James Uthmeier and Hope Florida counsel Jeff Aaron.
“While I’m firmly convinced that James Uthmeier and Jeff Aaron engaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud and several parties played a role in the misuse of $10 million in Medicaid funds, we as legislators will not be the ones making the ultimate charging decisions,” Andrade said during the hearing.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office says the $10 million donation was a separate part of the $67 million agreement with Centene, while the House asserts that it was taxpayer funds and was illegally redirected to the political committees.
Andrade said none of the other 20 states that also reached settlements with Centene included donations to charities.
“After reviewing several other state settlement agreements, it appears that Florida is the only state to direct a portion of their settlement amount to a charity, let alone a charity spearheaded by a governor’s spouse,” Andrade said. “Simply put, there’s no question that these were Medicaid funds steered by the governor’s chief of staff through secret and clandestine actions to his own political committee members. As policymakers, it is readily apparent that a culture of neglect, incompetence and entitlement exists within the walls of the governor’s office at this time.”
The Pensacola Republican also said that Secure Florida’s Future Chairman Mark Wilson and Amy Ronshausen from Save Our Society From Drugs had both declined in the hearing to participate via letter.
While he had not read Wilson’s letter, Andrade said Ronshausen said in her letter that she was “concerned about giving up privileges and legal liabilities.”
The GOP majority House contends that the $10 million was donated to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity run by First Lady Casey DeSantis, and it was later sent to several political committees fighting against Amendment 3 that would have put recreational marijuana in the state’s constitution.
Andrade spent the rest of the meeting explaining what the committee had discovered in its investigation and laying out a timeline of events.
According to Andrade, on Dec. 28, 2021, the state reached an agreement with Jackson, Miss.-based law firm Liston and Dees to engage in litigation against Centene.
Uthmeier discussed with Centene in February 2022 about a possible settlement.
The state terminated its agreement with the outside counsel on March 16, 2023, saying it would handle the case with in-house counsel.
Andrade said nothing happened on the settlement for more than a year and that the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, the state’s Medicaid agency, didn’t make an announcement when the settlement was finally signed by Centene and state officials.
Andrade said in Oct. 11, 2024, $10 million was wired to the Hope Florida Foundation, a foundation that he said had only raised $2 million up that point and never issued a grant greater than $50,000.
Andrade also detailed a phone call with Uthmeier and Ronshausen with Save Our Society From Drugs, where the then-chief of staff told her that Hope Florida had resources available for their “mutual campaign” against Amendment 3.
The Pensacola Republican said the foundation’s board was not informed of the wire transfer and that Ronshausen was misled by by Hope Florida’s Aaron that the board had approved the transfer.
He also said Wilson, CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, requested $5 million for Secure Florida’s Future.
“However, I will note to any member of the Florida Chamber of Commerce that it does appear from everything indicated by Mr. Wilson, they were complicit and had full knowledge of what they were doing in the misuse of these Medicaid funds,” Andrade said. “I would be extremely concerned as the Florida Chamber of Commerce members.”
