Short Term Fixes aren't what is needed for Florida

State Legislature balance budget by using non-reoccurring dollars. This does not bode well four our state budget.

Tobacco fund used for health programs

TALLAHASSEE — The House and Senate leadership on Wednesday rescued two health programs from the budget ax by tapping into Florida's landmark cash settlement with tobacco companies.

The $300 million infusion from the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund breathes life into the Medically Needy and Medicaid's Aged and Disabled programs
Both were slated to be killed as part of nearly $1 billion in planned cuts to health and human services.

Only about 40,000 Floridians are served by the health care programs, but they are among the neediest: those in need of organ transplants, for instance, who cannot get insurance, but make too much to qualify for Medicaid, and adults over 65 who are permanently disabled.

"I'm overcome with emotion right now," said a teary-eyed Mary Ellen Ross, 55, a Delray Beach bone marrow transplant recipient who has been enrolled in the Medically Needy program since 1999. "I'm one of those 40,000 people. Without this program ... we would have nowhere else to go."

The deal was announced following a morning of negotiations between House and Senate lawmakers. Hospital officials who had been preparing to criticize the legislature at a midday press conference for cutting the programs instead spent the time praising them.

"Our leaders have heard us," said Wayne NeSmith, president of the Florida Hospital Association.

House leaders initially resisted Gov. Charlie Crist's idea to tap the $2.2 billion Chiles Endowment Fund, the proceeds of Florida's successful lawsuit against tobacco companies.

Although interest from the fund is used to pay for health care and children's programs, this marks the first time the state has dipped into the fund's principal - a sign of the difficulty lawmakers are having balancing the budget.

"It's been a rough year," said Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Osprey, the Senate's top budget negotiator.