TALLAHASSEE — A blistering grand jury report describing how top DeSantis administration officials diverted $10 million from a Medicaid settlement into Republican political activities is also notable for something that got just a brief mention — Florida was shortchanged by almost $1 million.
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State officials signed a deal with the Centene Corp. in September 2024 to reimburse Florida $67 million because of alleged overbilling on its Medicaid contract. The deal stipulated that $10 million would come off the top and go immediately to Hope Florida, the charity championed by First Lady Casey DeSantis.
Hope Florida got its $10 million, but the state only received $56.25 million — “which meant $800,000 of Medicaid reimbursement and taxpayer money was not recovered from Centene,” the grand jury found.
Officials with the Agency for Health Care Administration, which runs the state’s Medicaid program, did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did Centene’s lawyers.
The grand jury did not explain the shortfall in detail. But it noted that Centene’s lawyers, as the settlement was hammered out, identified $56.25 million for potential Medicaid-related damages, and $10.8 million for any future claims of alleged damages and as an incentive to settle the case.
There was no mention of a donation to Hope Florida, though DeSantis officials would later claim the $10.8 million was not Medicaid money and therefore free to be donated — an argument the grand jury discredited.
Once officials decided to donate that money to Hope Florida, Jason Weida, then chief of the Agency for Health Care Administration, decided to give only $10 million, and not $10.8 million, an effort to avoid having to deposit money in a state general revenue fund as required by state law, the grand jury reported. The law requires that any settlement over $10 million must be deposited with the state.
The sealed grand jury report, leaked to CBS News Miami, reignited the Hope Florida controversy that first came to light last year.
The $10 million donation became a scandal when it was exposed during a legislative investigation led by Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, who revealed that the money quickly went from Hope Florida to GOP-controlled political action committees fighting an effort to legalize marijuana. That then prompted Leon County State Attorney Jack Campbell to convene a grand jury to look into allegations of fraud and misuse of state dollars.
The grand jury issued a report in January, which was immediately sealed and remained a secret until CBS News Miami published a story about it on Aug. 27.
The grand jury found that top members of the DeSantis administration took part in a “sophisticated scheme” to divert the $10 million to “political purposes” and said while it could not prove criminal wrongdoing it was clear taxpayer money meant for healthcare had been wrongly used on political activities.
It quickly became campaign fodder for the upcoming fall elections, with Democrats calling for the resignation of two people identified in the grand jury report — Attorney General James Uthmeier and U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody. Both are running to be elected to the positions they were appointed to by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Democrats have also called for the impeachment of Uthmeier, who was DeSantis’ chief of staff at the time of the Hope Florida deal and in a position of authority over the people involved, the grand jury said.
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Moody was Florida’s attorney general at the time and authorized the agreement, the grand jury said.
Uthmeier, Moody and DeSantis have denied wrongdoing.
The grand jury report leaves key questions unanswered about why the settlement agreement was changed to give money to Hope Florida and who recommended that change.
The state began negotiating a settlement agreement with Centene in 2021 after it was approached by lawyers who had worked out a framework for the Medicaid contractor to settle with dozens of other states, which Centene allegedly also overbilled.
Centene’s lawyers presented a settlement agreement in February 2023, offering to pay the state $67 million, an amount based on a formula used in other states’ agreements.
The state didn’t respond for months. In March 2023 fired the law firm Liston and Deas that had acted as a go-between for Centene and the state, deciding to handle the negotiations in house.
Eighteen months later, on Sept. 27, 2024, state officials led by Weida, who is now DeSantis’s chief of staff, and on the advice of the Attorney General’s office, presented a deal for Centene to pay the state $57 million and Hope Florida $10 million.
The donation to Hope Florida was added only after a meeting between the governor’s staff and health officials in early September 2024. Centene’s attorneys worked to shield themselves from any potential liability, making it clear the contribution was being directed by the state, the grand jury found.
Within days of signing the agreement, the money went to Hope Florida, which quickly doled it out to “other organizations for political purposes,” including the Republican Party of Florida, the grand jury reported.
The grand jury rejected Weida’s claim that the $10 million was a bonus from Centene “as this interpretation conflicts with Centene’s original settlement offer” that stated the additional $10.8 million was to reimburse for other damages to Florida not yet documented.
“Hence, this money was part of the damages Centene owed to Florida’s taxpayers,” the grand jury said.
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