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| May 12, 2008 |
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 Budget woes and shaky pro–life coalition in SenatePosted: 04.16.08 TALLAHASSEE | Florida Catholic Conference officials say there’s lots of legislative news on the health-care front, but little of it is good. Michael Sheedy, the conference’s associate director for health, told The Florida Catholic that dropping state revenues mean cuts in spending for programs that serve sick and needy Floridians, as well as the facilities that care for them. Catholic hospitals could receive a $28 million decrease in the reimbursement rates they receive for treating Medicaid patients, while Catholic nursing homes would see a $7 million to $10 million drop. The care provided to Medicaid patients at Catholic hospitals and nursing homes now costs $72 million more than the state pays the facilities. That deficit would jump to more than $100 million under current spending plans. Add to that the $53 million in charity care provided by Catholic health care facilities, and the deficit could rise to more than $160 million, threatening the ability of these institutions to continue their historic mission of providing care to the needy. In other news, SB 2400, a bill that would allow abortion-minded mothers to view ultrasounds of their unborn babies, squeaked its way out of the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee on April 16. Prospects for approval of the bill before the full Senate seem bleak. According to newspaper reports, Sen. Jim King (R-Jacksonville), who calls the bill “intrusive” and needlessly “divisive,” says he has built a coalition of nine Republicans who will join the Senate’s 14 Democrats to defeat the bill. Wednesday also saw the unanimous passage of CS/SB 780 by the Senate Health Regulation Committee. That bill would force Catholic hospitals to violate church teaching by mandating that they administer emergency contraception to rape survivors who are already pregnant, which could result in the abortion of the unborn babies. Sheedy says efforts to convince senators to protect Catholic officials by inserting a conscience clause have been unsuccessful. House leadership has assured him that a similar proposal will not pass the House. So far, the House bill has yet to be scheduled for a committee vote. RETURN TO CAPITOL REPORT FRONT PAGE | GO TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC HOME PAGE
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