Senior living industry experts are calling Florida’s $117 billion state budget a mix of hits and misses regarding programs supporting older adults.
Increasing the Medicaid reimbursement rate and personal needs allowance were two wins state associations are celebrating.
The 2024-2025 state budget, which was passed recently by lawmakers at the end of the 2024 legislation session, included a $1.3 million Medicaid increase for Assistive Care Services, which includes services provided by assisted living communities.
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“We are immensely grateful to the legislature and their collaborative efforts that resulted in a budget that not only addresses immediate needs, but also builds upon a solid foundation for the future of elder care in our state,” LeadingAge Southeast Vice President of Advocacy Susan Langston said in a statement. “From nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home- and community-based services, to affordable senior housing and workforce, these investments reflect a commitment to sustaining programs and services that provide high quality care for Florida’s older adults as they age across the continuum.”
Florida Assisted Living Association CEO Bijou Ikli explained that the ACS increase will help offset some of the costs associated with providing care for low-income residents. That daily rate had been $13.37, which Ikli said wouldn’t cover an hour of child care or even boarding for a pet, let alone coverage for assisting an older adult with activities of daily living. The latest budget increase will bump that daily rate by 15%.
The low reimbursement rate previously led many assisted living providers to forgo acceptance of ACS residents. Ikli said that a bump in the rate might incentivize others to accept this type of reimbursement and potentially reduce instances of earlier transitions of residents to skilled nursing facilities.
The Florida Senior Living Association said it supported the rate increase.
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“Consistent Medicaid increases are necessary for the future of assisted living,” Jason Hand, FSLA vice president of public policy and legal affairs, told McKnight’s Senior Living. “Each assisted living community in Florida is unique and provides many types of services, and we are grateful for every investment made toward securing the continued future of our amazing communities and their residents.”
Increasing the personal needs allowance
The budget also includes $6.7 million to increase the personal needs allowance for individuals receiving Florida Optional State Supplementation in an assisted living community, adult family care home or mental health treatment center. The OSS program helps qualified low-income individuals pay for room and board in those settings.
Ikli said that the increase is a significant win, as the personal needs allowance — which allows residents to retain a portion of their personal income to pay for personal expenses such as haircuts, toiletries, clothing and snacks — has remained $54 per month for assisted living residents for the past 20 years. The state budget increase brings that monthly figure up to $160 to match the amount nursing homes residents receive.
“We thought it was important to address, because we thought it must be an oversight,” Ikli said, adding that many assisted living providers who choose to supplement their residents’ needs faced the prospect of going out of business because they couldn’t maintain those expenses.
Assisted living part of ‘promising’ discussions
One area that didn’t gain traction in the latest legislative session was addressing the statewide Medicaid managed care long-term care wait list, or SMMC-LTC.
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Individuals are living longer, so many older adults who move into private-pay assisted living are running out of money and have to go through the process of applying for long-term care managed care. Those individuals eventually are placed on the SMMC-LTC waitlist for the communities they once called home.
Ikli said that the system creates a level of unnecessary stress and disruption for residents. Although proposals to rework the system did not make it to the committee level, she said that “promising” conversations have occurred about developing a plan to discuss the issue in a rules setting.
In addition, there also is an effort in the state to free up beds in skilled nursing facilities by transitioning more individuals into the greater community by identifying community-based alternatives. Ikli said that she is excited about that effort and believes it presents an opportunity for assisted living providers to help with some of those transitions.
“There is a lot of room for assisted living to help with saving the system a lot of money, especially for individuals who can’t be alone but also don’t need 24-hour nursing care, to have a place to go,” she said.
The key to being successful, she said, is going to be demonstrating the value of assisted living. Ikli said that the sector needs to be able to document its value, show the benefit and work as collaborative partners with various agencies and provider types on the healthcare continuum.
A white Florida woman who fatally shot a Black neighbor through her front door during an ongoing dispute over the neighbor’s boisterous children was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for her manslaughter conviction.
Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens by firing a single shot from her .380-caliber handgun in June 2023.
The shooting was the culmination of a long-running argument between the two neighbors over Owens’ children playing in a grassy area near both of their houses in Ocala, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Orlando.
Prosecutors said Owens had come to Lorincz’s home after her children complained that she had thrown roller skates and an umbrella at them, which Lorincz denied. Trial testimony showed Owens, a mother of four young children, was pounding on Lorincz’s door and yelling, leading Lorincz to claim self-defense in shooting her neighbor.
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Lorincz told detectives in a videotaped interview that she feared for her life. She also said she had been harassed for most of the three years she lived in the neighborhood.
“I thought I was in imminent danger,” she said.
Jurors did not agree with her self-defense claim.
Owens’ family pushed for the maximum prison sentence after Lorincz was convicted by an all-white jury.
“While the pain of losing Ajike, we are hopeful that justice will prevail and that the court will give Susan Lorincz the maximum penalty for her actions,” said Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, in an email statement before Monday’s sentencing. “Ajike’s legacy will live on through her children, and we will continue to fight for justice.”
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Lorincz’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Amanda Sizemore, sought a more lenient sentence, an unspecified term below the 11.5 years in prison that is the lowest for her crime under state guidelines. Sizemore said in court documents that there are several reasons to justify a downward departure, including a mental disorder and claims that Owens was the aggressor and under “extreme duress” during the confrontation.
There were protests in the Black community in Ocala when prosecutors took weeks to charge Lorincz with manslaughter, a lesser count than second-degree murder, which carries a potential life prison sentence. Marion County, which includes Ocala, has a Black population of about 12%, according to census figures.
It’s been a good couple weeks for Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier. He’s picked up two long-awaited SEC wins. One is his first win over LSU and another is his first top-10 win since the Gators beat No. 7 Utah in his first game as their head coach.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg made sure to give him some love in their college football Week 13 takeaways.
He considers Napier, along with Oklahoma’s Brent Venables and Auburn’s Hugh Freeze to have further redeemed themselves with big wins on Saturday.
“But Napier, Venables and Freeze all strengthened their profiles and elevated hope for the future by leading their teams to signature wins in Week 13.”
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Rittenberg was impressed by Florida’s continuing to bend but not break on defense and the performance of true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway. This all culminated in what could have spoiled Ole Miss’ playoff ambitions.
“Napier, whose Florida team had outclassed LSU the week before in The Swamp, likely eliminated Ole Miss from CFP contention with an excellent second half. A Gators defense that struggled early allowed only three points in the final 39 minutes and intercepted Jaxson Dart twice in the closing minutes, and Florida got impressive play from its own young quarterback, DJ Lagway.”
Napier was also given credit for having shown “real signs of promise before Week 13.”
Florida took No. 8 Tennessee to overtime, losing 23-17. But more impressively took Georgia down to the wire despite Lagway being carted off with a hamstring injury. While the final score was 34-20, those who watched know that it was a one-score game until about four minutes to go. That gave Florida props, but now he’s beaten ranked opponents.
Now, Florida has a shot to finish with its first winning record since 2020 and win its first bowl game since 2019.
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Rittenberg concluded his takes by saying Napier, along with Vernables and Freeze, has given “tangible evidence to cite that better days might be ahead.”
Western Carolina Catamounts (2-2) at Florida State Seminoles (6-1)
Tallahassee, Florida; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EST
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BOTTOM LINE: Western Carolina plays Florida State after Cord Stansberry scored 20 points in Western Carolina’s 82-69 loss to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
The Seminoles are 3-1 on their home court. Florida State is 5-1 when it wins the turnover battle and averages 12.4 turnovers per game.
Western Carolina finished 11-8 in SoCon action and 10-6 on the road a season ago. The Catamounts averaged 11.3 assists per game on 28.2 made field goals last season.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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