Following the lead of Gov. Charlie Crist, the initial health care budget of the Florida Senate calls for tapping into the Lawton Chiles Endowment, the $2 billion reserve account that was set up in 1999 with proceeds from the landmark settlement between the state and the nation's tobacco companies.
But while Crist used $400 million from the endowment as an effort to shield his health care budget from large-scale cuts, the Senate instead is relying on $159 million to help pay for some construction projects and keep intact a couple of Medicaid programs until Nov. 1, when the programs will then be cut.
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Posted by: | March 26, 2008 at 09:34 PM