Florida Health News

New AHCA chief: I'll help governor cover the uninsured

By Christine Jordan Sexton and Carol Gentry
2/13/2008 ©  Florida Health News

Benson

TALLAHASSEE -- Holly Benson, in line to become Florida’s top health regulator, says she’s excited about helping Gov. Charlie Crist find ways to expand coverage to millions of uninsured Floridians. As Secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, Benson will be chief cheerleader for the governor’s upcoming proposal to the Legislature on how to trim the ranks of the uninsured. According to recent studies, almost one in four Floridians under age 65 lacks coverage, one of the highest rates in the nation. “I’m confident that Holly will help us move our health care agenda forward,” Crist said in making the announcement. Benson, who sought the AHCA post a year ago but landed at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), was clearly pleased.. “The governor knows how much I care about health care policy,” she said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.

There has been little time for briefings in the week since she was offered the post, she said, so she doesn’t know many details of the governor’s plan. But in general, she said, she expects a request to let insurers sell limited-coverage policies at low cost; a move to let young adults remain on their parents’ policies until age 30; and further expansion of KidCare, Florida’s sliding-scale coverage for children of the working poor.

AHCA will also collaborate with the Department of Health on a pilot program that seeks out the uninsured in low-income communities to get them enrolled in coverage for which they qualify, she said.

The current AHCA Secretary, pediatrician Andrew Agwunobi, will become regional CEO of Providence Health and Services, a Catholic hospital system in Washington State. AHCA spokesman Doc Kokol said Agwunobi had been unable to unite his family in Tallahassee and tired of commuting to Atlanta each weekend to see his wife, also a physician, and two young daughters. The entire family will be reunited in the move to Washington state, Kokol said. Crist praised Agwunobi’s work during his 13 months at AHCA. “He’s done a tremendous job opening windows to health care for a lot of people ...," Crist said. "I am very grateful for that.”

During her short tenure at DBPR, Benson worked toward lowering fees for many professions that were legislatively set at a higher rate than was needed to cover the costs of regulation. She said she was able to provide a “fee holiday” for five of the professions DBPR regulates.

But some had reservations about her appointment. Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates said it hopes that Benson will not use the position to impede women’s access to abortion, as she did in the legislature. In a release, Executive Director Adrienne Kimmell said she hopes her group and the new AHCA Secretary can find common ground in working to “prevent unintended pregnancies and promote healthy families.”

A long-time DBPR critic, Jan Bergemann of Cyber Citizens for Justice Inc., said Benson was ineffective in improving state oversight of condo and homeowner associations. “She totally failed to do anything,” Bergemann said.

A municipal bond lawyer from Pensacola, Benson served in the House from 2000 to 2006, the first Republican ever to be elected from her district. She ran the House panel that helped push through the Medicaid reform bills championed by former Gov. Jeb Bush and then-AHCA Secretary Alan Levine.

Levine, who recently became Secretary of Health for the state of Louisiana, sent kudos for Benson on Tuesday. "As chair of health care for the House, Secretary Benson was incredibly insightful and a terrific communicator," Levine said in an e-mail. "Governor Crist could not have made a better choice. I'm proud to have Holly as my colleague and know she will make Florida proud."

At AHCA, she will have responsibility for the $16-billion Medicaid program that she helped reshape as a legislator. The changes, including a requirement that most Medicaid beneficiaries be enrolled in a managed-care network, have been controversial.

Late last year, AHCA's Inspector General Linda Keen raised questions about how well the changes were working in the pilot areas -- Broward, Duval and three rural counties. She recommended that any plans for expansion be placed on hold pending studies that are now under way, and Agwunobi concurred. Benson said Tuesday she agreed with Agwunobi. "I don't know if we have all the data we need to make sure it is ready for statewide expansion," she said.

Agwunobi, who will take over a Seattle-based system of about two dozen hospitals in five states, has presided over a turbulent year at AHCA. Medicaid’s largest contractor, Tampa-based WellCare Health Plans Inc., has been under investigation by state and federal fraud investigators since late October, although no charges have been filed.

Agwunobi served for six months on WellCare's board and cashed in $1 million worth of stock options in 2006, just before accepting the AHCA post. He was never accused of wrongdoing, but his former ties to the company placed him in an awkward position as its chief regulator and largest client.