Where did Hope Florida go in the Medicaid contract? Report raises questions [View all]

Original reporting: State deletes most references to Hope Florida from Medicaid contract (Orlando Sentinel)

Alternate link: https://archive.ph/6nxQL

Acknowledgment: RIng of Fire for the heads up.

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Source: Florida Politics

Where did Hope Florida go in the Medicaid contract? Report raises questions

A new report examines a Medicaid managed care contract.

Gabrielle Russon
December 26, 2025
4min

The vast majority of Hope Florida references have disappeared from a Medicaid managed care contract, the Orlando Sentinel is reporting.

Hope Florida has been under fire for a financial scandal.

The words “Hope Florida” were missing or replaced with phrases like “program navigator” although the meat of the contract was the same, the Sentinel found.

“The earlier version of the contract delineated a role for Hope Florida, a pet project of First Lady Casey DeSantis, in providing a number of specific services to Medicaid recipients, including ‘loneliness services,’” the Sentinel story said.

“It looks like they’re trying to downplay the apparent role Hope Florida has in this plan,” Rep. Alex Andrade, who led a House subcommittee probing Hope Florida in the 2025 Legislative Session, told the newspaper. “It’s unclear whether there is any substance to the changes in the contract or if they are winding down its function. That in itself is odd … It certainly seems misleading. The actual net effect is hard to tell.”

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Read more: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/770951-where-did-hope-florida-go-in-the-medicaid-contract-report-raises-questions/