TALHASSEE — The $10 million donation led by Florida officials, led by charities created to fund Florida First Lady DeSantis’ top political initiative, is part of a larger settlement with the healthcare giant center and is part of “illegal” under state law, he said Wednesday.
During a House Committee hearing more than two hours, Florida officials said they owed tens of millions of dollars for disturbing the state for services last year. The healthcare administration wrote a $67 million settlement, according to a copy of the settlement obtained by The Times/Herald.
Under state law, funds from these types of settlements must be deposited in trust funds or general funds where lawmakers can oversee it.
However, the $10 million donation that came shortly after the September 27, 2024 settlement was signed was never disclosed to lawmakers.
“It was a policy decision… I believed it was illegal,” Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican, told Healthcare Administration Director Shevaun Harris.
“We have discovered that state agencies are secretly redirecting money during the 11th hour of the legal settlement without giving us any notice,” he added.
Wednesday’s hearing provided more clues to an expanding investigation, including Casey DeSantis’s top war initiative, Hope Florida.
Hope Florida has worked to help Floridians out of government services, to churches and local nonprofits, in an effort by Gov. Ron Desantis and the First Lady. In 2023, the administration established the Hope Florida Foundation, a nonprofit organization, to collect donations and pay those churches and nonprofits. Casey Desantis’ name does not appear on the charity’s corporate records.
DeSantis asks the session to declare the session to Florida under state law as the office to report to the governor. If he ran to replace DeSantis as governor in 2026, he would give his wife a big legislative victory as she heads into campaign season this summer. Casey DeSantis has never been appointed.
However, the Foundation has not released records regarding its donors or recipients, and has not submitted records regarding the structure, ethics or surveillance required under state law.
The Times/Herald reported Tuesday that the foundation’s October meeting minutes mentioned a $10 million contribution. Both the settlement agreement and meeting minutes were obtained by Herald/Times. The agency has not responded to newspaper requests for records.
“Another contribution”
Andredo asked Harris about the settlement details on Wednesday before asking him multiple times for details on the settlement.
She said Centene informed healthcare providers that the pharmacy benefits manager overcharged the state. The agency negotiated that $10 million of the $67 million will be donated to the Florida Foundation’s Hope. Centerne is Florida’s largest Medicaid contractor and serves more than 1 million Floridians.
Harris did not apply for a donation because state laws requiring money to be given to legislatures were “separate contributions” under the settlement and not taxpayer money.
“The money owed to the state was paid back to the state,” she said. “This entity, Centene, made an individual contribution to the Foundation.”
Andrade said the notion that it is not a taxpayer dollar is “aggressive.”
Centrene was “overpaid taxpayer dollars,” he said. We settled down with the state agency due to “overpayment of taxpayer dollars.”
So how did the money become “suddenly” and “not taxpayer dollars”? he asked.
“I answered these questions with all my ability,” Harris replied.
The settlement was signed by several top officials in the DeSantis administration. Associate Deputy Attorney General John Gard, then Secretary of Health Administration Jason Wida, Director of Insurance and Regulations Mike Yaworski, and Director of Health Affairs Cassandra Pasley.
Waida is DeSantis’ Chief of Staff. A spokesman for Weida, Yawersky and Pasley did not answer the questions.
Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said it was a “donation to hope” under the law that “We hope Florida is not state funding.”
He didn’t respond when asked to provide other examples of the Attorney General, who divert the settlement money to charities instead of delivering it to lawmakers.
It’s not clear that $10 million is being used. Harris, the foundation’s registered agent until Wednesday, and deputy chief of staff at the agency, Mallory McManus, refused to answer questions about money during the hearing.
Lawmakers say the foundation is a “black hole”
Andredo called the foundation “black holes.”
“What I’m hearing from the AHCA secretary is that I don’t know what the money will be spent on,” Andredo added. “I don’t know why we did that. That’s not acceptable, secretary.”
Harris and McManus had a hard time explaining what Florida was doing and what they were doing. The initiative does not produce detailed data or metrics to show how people are piloting from government aid, where those people are, or what kind of assistance they are not receiving.
Lawmakers asked who is in charge of the state’s hoped Florida program. There was no one to answer. When lawmakers asked why the foundation had not submitted records, they instructed the foundation to question.
In his question, Harris implied that the House members did not support the agency’s “all goal of helping families.”
“That’s a bit sad, isn’t it?” Harris said. “This is the goal of helping an individual get back on track. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Some lawmakers seemed angry at the comments.
“We want to take the umbrage to the hint that we don’t care about our families,” Tampa Republican Rep. Karen Gonzalez Pittman said. “We are interested in families and families who are receiving good health care.”
McManus said in a subsequent statement: “It’s about how much President Andredo doesn’t understand Medicaid, as demonstrated at his performance committee hearing today.”
Andredo later said the state’s response was “very frustrating.” He said he wanted an answer about “how this $10 million was spent, or why it was on Earth.”
“If we don’t get information… at some point, I think the subpoena is valid,” Andredo said.
