In the parade of horribles that is the Senate’s health budget (gutting services to transplant patients and the aged and disabled, whacking reimbursement rates to hospitals and homes for the developmentally disabled), one series of cuts stands out: The Department of Children and Families.
Compared to the current year, DCF suffers the biggest bottom line cut of $396 million, with 1,089 positions lost.
Senate health budget chairman Joe Negron said that doesn’t mean 1,000 people will lose their jobs, and points out that at least 300 jobs in just one subsection of DCF’s budget are unfilled. Still, some people will be out of work.
Overall, Medicaid spending (and therefore the Agency for Healthcare Administration) is probably getting the biggest cut of nearly $1 billion, but it doesn’t readily appear in the budget because enrollment in the program is up. As a result, AHCA’s bottom-line budget actually grows by $393 million.
In all, the entire health proposed budget weighs in at just under $28.4 billion, slightly less than next year. The cuts are everywhere: mental health, nursing homes, pharmacy services, county health departments, Medicaid HMOs, hospitals….. But, Negron said, he wanted to spare doctors because they’re the core of the Medicaid program and they’ve had rates steadily reduced over the years.
Negron’s budget doesn’t account for expected savings of about 7 percent for placing Medicaid completely under the control of managed-care companies. He said that measure will work through the process on a separate track. He also said that proposed savings for privatizing two state mental hospitals aren’t in the budget proposal, but will be brought up later in the week.
A comparison of spending is here:
| GR FY12 | GR FY11 | Diff 12-11 | |
| AHCA | $ 4,306.82 | $ 4,096.90 | $ 209.92 |
| APD | $ 422.93 | $ 414.60 | $ 8.33 |
| DCF | $ 1,193.64 | $ 1,453.10 | $ (259.46) |
| DOEA | $ 305.14 | $ 279.00 | $ 26.14 |
| DOH | $ 386.00 | $ 452.00 | $ (66.00) |
| VET | $ 13.44 | $ 13.10 | $ 0.34 |
| Total | $ 6,627.97 | $ 6,708.80 | $ (80.83) |
| FY12All | FY11All | ||
| AHCA | $ 21,195.35 | $20,802.00 | $ 393.35 |
| APD | $ 917.70 | $ 1,013.50 | $ (95.80) |
| DCF | $ 2,550.07 | $ 2,946.10 | $ (396.03) |
| DOEA | $ 736.22 | $ 729.20 | $ 7.02 |
| DOH | $ 2,877.60 | $ 2,910.90 | $ (33.30) |
| VET | $ 91.79 | $ 80.60 | $ 11.19 |
| Total | $ 28,368.74 | $28,482.30 | $ (113.56) |
| FY12 FTEs | FY11 FTEs | Diff | |
| AHCA | 1,662.50 | 1,660.50 | 2.00 |
| APD | 2,975 | 3,078.00 | -103.00 |
| DCF | 12,097.75 | 13,186.75 | -1,089.00 |
| DOEA | 450 | 454 | -4.00 |
| DOH | 17,165.25 | 17,367.50 | -202.25 |
| VET | 1,170.50 | 1,123.00 | 47.50 |
| Total | 35,521.00 | 36,869.75 | -1,348.75 |
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