TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida First Lady were in Tampa Tuesday, celebrating the work being done by the Hope Florida program that fought. And while the DeSantis duo continues to promote Florida and its hopes of initiatives, there are new reports of the program’s investigation and the mystical money trails surrounding it.
But the governor and his wife call these investigations a political attack.
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“I think everything that’s thrown at it is pure politics. I don’t think it’s appropriate to do politics, whether it’s a Congressional Committee or a state committee,” Gov. DeSantis said.
“This isn’t about politics. It’s about doing good things on behalf of people who deserve the opportunity to fight for them,” said First Lady Casey DeSantis, who talks about Hope Florida.
The previous investigation, led by state lawmakers in Tallahassee, centered on a $10 million settlement that linked the Florida Foundation to the Political Action Committee.
The investigation ended abruptly in April, but now Florida Legislature leaders are calling for further investigation at the federal level.
“Let’s have the inspectors and CMS get in there and see the settlement documents. Why were the millions of dollars sent to the Political Action Committee for a cannabis referendum?” said US president Kathy Caster.
Castor and US representative Darren Soto wrote to representative inspectors of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, calling for immediate action at the federal level, citing potential violations of the Medicaid fund.
“Medicaid dollars are federal and state dollars. There is a federal law that prohibits the use of Medicaid funds for unrelated purposes,” Castor said.
We hope Florida and its foundation will be at the heart of the long money trails that are attributed to Medicaid overpayments.
A $67 million settlement has arrived between Medicaid contractors, St. Nay and the state, according to state lawmakers.
$57 million returned to the state, with the remaining $10 million going to Florida Foundation Hope. The foundation then sent the money to two political nonprofits, giving it to a political committee opposed to the amendment of recreational marijuana.
At this point, there is no federal action on the controversy yet. However, Castor said she is relying on the Department of Health and Human Services to get to the bottom of this.
In the capital, the Tampa Bay Times reported Tuesday that the state attorney for Leon County has also begun an investigation into Hope Florida.
News Channel 8 on your side continued on Tuesday morning by state Attorney Jack Campbell’s team on the report, and he was told he had no comment.
