House committee, DeSantis administration clash over donation tied to first lady's project

A major Medicaid managed care plan last year made a $10 million donation to a direct-support organization tied to a signature program of Florida first lady Casey DeSantis as part of a $67 million settlement with the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

Details about the donation emerged Wednesday during a combative state House Health Care Budget Subcommittee meeting as Chairman Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, clashed with members of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration over Hope Florida, a program launched by the first couple in 2021.

Andrade grilled AHCA Secretary Shevaun Harris and her aides for more than two hours about the program, which has become the first lady’s marquee project as she mulls a potential run next year for governor as her husband faces term limits.

The governor tapped Harris to lead AHCA in February. She previously served as secretary of the Department of Children & Families.

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Hope Florida operates across multiple state agencies and is designed to “foster community collaboration between the public and private sector, faith-based communities, and nonprofits, to break down traditional community silos,” according to its website.

The program, in part, runs a hotline and uses state employees called “hope navigators” to direct callers to state agencies or private entities for services.

Andrade repeatedly pressed Harris for details about the program and its relationship to Hope Florida Foundation Inc., a direct-support organization authorized by the Legislature two years ago.

Federal income tax reports required for nonprofit organizations, known as 990s, are unavailable for the Hope Florida Foundation, which relies on donations from private entities. Such reports include information about spending, payroll and donations.

Andrade questioned why money from the settlement, which stemmed from a state overpayment to the Centene managed care company related to pharmacy benefits, was steered to the nonprofit. The settlement was signed on behalf of the health agency by Jason Weida, who at the time was AHCA secretary and now serves as the governor’s chief of staff.

ALSO READ: Centene legal settlements are still unfinished with two states. One is Florida

“AHCA decided as part of this settlement to say, ‘Send us $57 million, send Hope Florida $10 million’ without any discussion with any policymaker in the Legislature, which is required. We’re required to be informed of this,” Andrade said, referring at one point to the foundation as a “black hole.”

Harris said the contribution went to the direct-support organization, not to the state program, which relies on state dollars.

“The foundation has been supportive of strategic partnerships helping to support, expand the array of services that are available … to support those in need. That is a laudable cause, a laudable effort,” Harris said.

“I understand that the plans make voluntary six-figure donations to Hope Florida on a regular basis,” Andrade said. “What I'm trying to understand is why AHCA felt it could contractually obligate Centene as part of a legal claim with the state to direct $10 million from Centene to also go to Hope Florida. That is a fair question that I’ve not got a response to. It looks like a creative way to try and, without oversight, send $10 million of taxpayer dollars to Hope Florida.”

Harris, however, pushed back.

“I’m not sure why we’re here. I understand that there are questions being asked and we’re doing our best to be transparent … but it does feel like we’re not aligned in this overall goal of helping families. It’s kind of sad, genuinely. This is the goal of helping individuals get back on their feet. I don’t know what’s wrong with that,” Harris said, drawing Andrade’s wrath.

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“I’m going to take umbrage on that claim," the chairman said. "We’re a separate governmental body tasked with oversight and direction of state agencies, and we discover that state agencies are redirecting money secretly in the 11th hour in a legal settlement without getting any notice, and the accusation is that we don’t care about helping Florida families?”

The sparring continued as Andrade, a lawyer, repeatedly grilled Harris on the donation as part of the settlement deal, which he said was a “policy decision” by the state agency “that I believe was illegal.” He called Harris’ inability to explain what the money was spent on “unacceptable.”

“I think it’s unfortunate that we are succumbing to some of these unfortunate attacks,” Harris responded.

Rep. Mike Redondo, a Miami Republican who is an attorney, pointed to a Florida law requiring direct-support organizations like the Hope Florida Foundation to “describe its mission, its three-year plan, its code of ethics, its tax returns and other records on its website and in memos to House and Senate leaders.”

No such website appears to exist.

Redondo asked Harris if the foundation had complied with another state law requiring the nonprofit to perform annual audits.

“Before I left (the Department of Children & Families), we were working to collect that information from the (direct-support organization),” Harris told Redondo.

The discord between Andrade and the administration escalated throughout the day.

“It's concerning how little Rep. Andrade understands about Medicaid, as demonstrated in his performative committee today,” AHCA spokeswoman Mallory McManus wrote on X. “He also purposely misconstrued the structure and nature of the Hope Florida program, which is shameful. AHCA is proud of our work serving Floridians, particularly in helping people reduce government dependency and achieving economic self-sufficiency.”

Other Florida agency heads, including Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, joined Harris in a video posted on social media to decry the House meeting, which Harris called an "ambush."

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Andrade said he remained unclear about Hope Florida’s purpose and unsatisfied with the agency’s responses.

“The best I can tell, the whole Hope Florida program is just telling … different agencies to actually communicate with each other. It’s completely unclear to me what benefit slapping a name on it has done,” Andrade said. “It's even more concerning that we have this separate (direct-suppport organization) that's not providing services, that has been a recipient of significant amounts of state taxpayer dollars and also has received hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars from vendors of the state immediately prior to major awards of state contracts.”