Carol Gentry

Two weeks before the federal Health Insurance Marketplace opens for enrollment, a major national company is withdrawing its Florida plans from the exchange. 

A doctor accused of giving a toddler a fatal dose of an unapproved drug was declared “very, very dangerous” at a meeting of the Florida Board of Medicine on Friday. But she escaped serious discipline by agreeing to go away and stay away.

A doctor accused of sending sexually explicit videos and texts to a patient should be barred from treating females and should be suspended until he completes a psychiatric evaluation, the Florida Board of Medicine said Friday.

Federal health officials are issuing audit reports and rushing to collect $267 million in alleged overpayments to some Florida hospitals to close the books on an old program, says Florida Hospital Association President Bruce Rueben.

FHA argues against a rush to judgment, saying some of the audits are still preliminary. Also, the group says, it’s unreasonable to expect hospitals to repay millions of dollars in one year. 

The 2014 Florida Legislature passed a number of bills relating to health care, most of them modest in scope. 

But at least one that passed will probably save lives: the Child Welfare Act, which in part responds to the deaths of 477 children who were supposed to be under the protection of the Department of Children and Families.

Judging from what they say and what's in the proposed state budget, Florida's top elected officials care about children, the elderly and the seriously disabled. Also, businesses of all sizes.

Others -- including the poor, the uninsured and state workers -- get less attention. There is  no provision for low-income adults to get health insurance, even though the money is available, and most state workers won't get a raise. The good news for state employees is that there won't be big staff cuts, for a change.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has become the Obama administration's envoy to Florida on behalf of the Affordable Care Act. She has visited the state half a dozen times since June, trying to get the word out to the state's millions of uninsured to sign up for a health plan.

Recently, she visited the University of South Florida's Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation, where Health News Florida editor Carol Gentry spoke with her.

Pinellas County government officials suffered a blow Wednesday when they learned about the state Department of Health's order barring enrollment Navigators from local health department property.

The Navigators are supposed to fill a key role in carrying out the Affordable Care Act by helping uninsured people enroll in health plans that are to be offered through an online Marketplace, which is to open Oct. 1.

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner is defending his plan to use the federal Homeland Security database known as SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) to search for noncitizens on Florida voting rolls.

During a Nov. 4 hearing before the Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections, Detzner said using SAVE to check voter registration is one of its primary uses.

Dwayne Scheuneman is a Navy veteran who was paralyzed after a diving accident.  But thanks to his drive and determination, he has become a successful wheelchair athlete – most recently winning four gold medals and three silver medals in track and field at the 2013 National Veterans Wheelchair Games.

Despite his athletic success, Scheuneman is more comfortable on the dance floor than the racetrack. But it opens him up to some friendly teasing from other veterans.

University of South Florida will receive the lion's share of "Navigator Grants" being issued for Florida, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is to make the announcement at USF at noon. (An updated article will be posted following the press conference.)

The list of grants released for Florida totals around $7.8 million -- more than the $5.8 million that had been expected.

Florida’s private homeowners’ insurance market is “the worse it’s ever been” in the past five years according to Michael Letcher, president of the Home Insurance Buyers Guide.

“To me, the health of the market isn’t how many policies are available in the private market but what kind of choice does a customer have and what kind of ability do we all have to shop our policies,” Letcher said.

It appears increasingly likely that the legislative session will end on Friday without agreement to accept more than $50 billion in federal funds to cover an estimated 1.1 million uninsured Floridians. 

If Florida doesn't take the money, many of the poorest adults in the state -- those who have incomes under $12,000 a year -- won't be offered coverage on Jan. 1, when the expansion of health coverage under the Affordable Care Act goes into effect.