‘Direct primary care’ gets governor’s approval
Part of State Road 4 to be named after former state senator.
After years of legislative discussion about the issue, Gov. Rick Scott on Friday signed a measure (HB 37) that amends the state insurance code to make clear that “direct primary care” agreements do not run afoul of insurance laws.
Under direct primary-care agreements, doctors charge patients monthly fees in advance of providing services, with patients then able to access services at no extra cost. The bill, sponsored by House Insurance & Banking Chairman Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, and Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, does not spell out how much can be charged or what services need to be included in the agreements.
Primary care providers are defined as physicians, osteopathic physicians, chiropractors, nurses or primary-care group practices.
The bill was one of 74 that Scott signed into law Friday, including a tax-cut package. House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, made a priority of the direct-primary care issue, which also received heavy backing from the small-business group National Federation of Independent Business Florida.
“It turned out a great day for Florida’s small businesses to have Gov. Scott sign both small-business rent tax cuts and direct primary care into law,” NFIB Executive Director Bill Herrle told the News Service of Florida, referring to part of the tax package that reduced a tax on commercial rents. “We look for the direct-primary care act to transform how small businesses and their employees get their primary health care delivered. Less middlemen, more docs.”
The Senate voted unanimously to pass the bill, which was approved in a 97-10 vote by the House.
Evers honored in road-designation bill
A bill signed Friday by Gov. Rick Scott will honor former state Sen. Greg Evers, a Baker Republican who died Aug. 22 when his truck ran off a road near his home in Northwest Florida.
The bill (SB 382), which passed the House and Senate on March 9, designates a portion of State Road 4 in Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties as “Senator Greg Evers Memorial Highway.”
Evers served in the Florida House before his election to the Senate in 2010. Evers left his Senate seat in 2016 to make a bid for the U.S. House but lost the Republican primary to U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.
The Evers honor was included in a bill with about three dozen other road designations across the state. Among the other designations was naming a portion of U.S. 90 in Walton County as “Lieutenant Ewart T. Sconiers Highway.”
Sconiers, of DeFuniak Springs, was an airman who was shot down by German troops in World War II. He was a prisoner of war who died in 1944, and his remains were identified in Poland last year.
Scott signs off on early start for 2020
Florida lawmakers and lobbyists can plan for an early start to the 2020 legislative session.
Gov. Rick Scott on Friday signed a bill (HB 7045) that will lead to the 2020 session starting in mid-January. Under the state constitution, legislative sessions typically start in March. But the Legislature can decide to start sessions at other times during even-numbered years.
The Legislature voted to start the 2016 and 2018 sessions in January.
The bill, which overwhelmingly passed the House and Senate, will start the 2020 session on Jan. 14. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Jeanette Nunez, R-Miami.