The gradual lifting of cruel restrictions like the one restricting gay men from donating blood looks fine on its own, but what difference does it make when Florida leads U.S. in new HIV cases. My governor:
Scott wants the Legislature to make more health department cuts next year. In his budget recommendations, Scott called for eliminating 718 more Department of Health jobs, of which 507 are in county health departments. Those cuts would save $13 million.
“Nearly two thirds of the proposed staff reductions are vacant and therefore will not impact daily DOH operations of result in any interruption in services,” Scott’s office said.
State agencies often keep long-dormant “phantom jobs” on the books so that they can get credit from the Legislature when they eliminate those jobs to comply with demands to cut spending.
“Now that I see some of the consequences, I need to know what positions were cut that weren’t phantom positions,” Gaetz said.
Armstrong’s own data shows that since fiscal 2010, the year before Scott took office, the amount of state money spent on county health departments has fallen 26 percent, from $173 million that year to $128 million in the budget year that ended last June.
Miami-Dade lost a quarter of its county health revenue from the state during that period. Broward saw a reduction of 27 percent, Pinellas 27 percent and Hillsborough 31 percent. Hillsborough county health director Doug Holt did not respond to a request for comment.
During the same period, Scott also has vetoed millions of dollars for local health care programs.
My governor, the chief executive office of a health care group responsible for defrauding the federal government in the largest Medicare scam of its kind in history, is in the position to know what a phantom job is and whether he should fill those positions. I trust him.
Humanizing The Vacuum 