The Florida Roundup - 2025 Medicare enrollment, Sunshine State politics go to Washington, PolitiFact and weekly news briefing

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke about some of the biggest changes coming to Medicare in 2025 with Dr. Meena Seshamani, director of the federal Center for Medicare (00:23). Then, we navigated enrollment questions with Jim Tolbert, SHINE Medicare counselor (09:56). And later, as President-elect Trump makes more Florida-based cabinet nominations, we look at how Florida policy-making could influence national politics in the coming years (20:22). Plus, we turned to Samantha Putterman with our partner PolitiFact for fact-checks on the latest claims (32:48). Plus, a bipartisan effort to tackle Florida’s mounting condo crisis (37:35) and why FEMA dropped Fort Myers Beach from its flood discount program (42:12). And finally, the Everglades National Park turns 77 (46:31).

Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being here this week. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being here this week. The Sunshine State has more people getting their health insurance from the federal government than any other state other than California. More than one out of every 10 Floridians are on traditional Medicare. Add in the other two and a half million people who use Medicare Advantage through private insurers, and about one out of every five people in Florida relies on some version of Medicare to help pay for their health care. And they have only about a day or so left to decide what they need next year out of their health insurer and how much they are able to pay.

The deadline to enroll in Medicare is Saturday. Navigating Medicare is daunting. There's an alphabet soup, parts A and B and D. Do you rely on Medicare or Medicare Advantage for your health care? Does someone in your family? Have you been trying to sort through all this? What's the experience been like getting health care through Medicare? 305-995-1800. What are your questions ahead of enrollment? 305-995-1800. Live on the phone, send us a quick email, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. We'll be joined by a Medicare counselor in just a few minutes. Dr. Meena Seshamani is the Director

of the Center for Medicare within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Doctor, welcome back to the Florida Roundup. There are several changes this year for Medicare, Part D, particularly the prescription drug coverage. A new $2,000 limit on out-of-pocket costs. This is for the medicine that's covered by the plans, though, correct? What about medicine that's not included? That's right. And Tom, that's why it is so important for people to check and make sure that the prescription drugs that they take will be covered by the plan that they are enrolling in.

So it's a huge savings to have a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap. I've talked to seniors who have spent up to $17,000 in a year for their prescription drugs. And this needed financial relief is only possible if you are enrolling in a plan that covers your prescription drugs. Does this deductible limit apply to, say, medicines that you may get during a doctor's visit? In general, medicines during a doctor's visit are covered under a different part of Medicare. This is specifically for Medicare prescription drug coverage where like you're going to the pharmacy and getting a prescription or, you know, through the mail order pharmacy. That's generally how it works. And how about for those enrolled in Medicare

Advantage plans? This new $2,000 limit on out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs covered by a Medicare Part D plan. Does that also apply to those who have prescription drug coverage under a Medicare Advantage plan? Yes, because Medicare Part D is the same for Medicare Advantage or traditional Medicare. So that $2,000 out-of-pocket cap applies to anybody with Medicare prescription drug coverage. We'll talk about a different type of benefit here, more help for patients with dementia and their caregivers. Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience, this is the acronym GUIDE. It has kind of a pilot program, I think, doctors, specific hospitals, doctors' offices, community groups are involved. There's 31 listed online in Florida that are involved with this benefit. What should caregivers expect?

So I'm really glad that you raised this because part of our goal with the Medicare program has really been to change the way that health care works. It's not about treating a diagnosis code. It's about caring for a person. And we know how vital caregivers are to care for that person. So the guide model, particularly for people with dementia, provides additional supports for caregivers, including respite care, training, providing upfront money to healthcare providers so that they can better support caregivers. And this is one model that we are testing to then see if there are things that we should incorporate into the fuller Medicare program. But it's important to remember that even in the fuller Medicare program, we have taken historic strides to support caregivers. Medicare, overall Medicare, not just in a particular model, Medicare now pays for healthcare providers to train family caregivers in things like toileting, helping helping their loved ones to do their routine activities, behavioral management, direct care like wound care. So these are all really important

improvements that the Medicare program has made. And it's important for caregivers to know about them because then you can ask for that help from your loved one's health care provider. I want to ask a specific follow-up on this dementia pilot program and their caregivers. My understanding is that in order for folks to be able to avail themselves of this benefit, that a patient must be enrolled in traditional Medicare, not Medicare Advantage, and have an existing dementia diagnosis. Is that correct? All of these kinds of models that are done through our Innovation Center are on the traditional Medicare side. Right. And so a patient has to have an existing dementia diagnosis as opposed to a diagnosis that may happen in, say, March or June of 2025. Essentially, someone needs to have a dementia diagnosis to be able to be part of this model. Let me ask you about Medicare Advantage, that catch-all title for private insurance

that mimics traditional Medicare and has other coverage like dental and eye coverage, for instance. Your agency uses a star system to rate the private plans, and those star systems are used by consumers, of course, to take a look at them. You recently reduced the influence of customer support in awarding stars.

Why was that? So what we were seeking to do is create a balance between health outcomes and patient experience. The patient experience weighting had been taken to be much higher than health outcomes. And so we brought it back into being of equal weight for each of those. Okay. And then I know you're in the medical side of things, but I do want to ask you the existential question when it comes to Medicare, which is the financial stability. How do you think the changes that have been instituted for 2025 affect the stability of Medicare going forward? So I think one thing that has been a priority for us is making sure that we are being good stewards of the program. That means, for example, with the first 10 high-cost drugs that we

negotiated for the Medicare program on behalf of the millions of people who take these drugs, that we are balancing innovation and a fair price for people. And the negotiations, for example, we estimate would save Medicare $6 billion and importantly, save people with Medicare prescription drug coverage $1.5 billion. So enabling people to access these drugs and ensure stability and sustainability of the Medicare program. And another key area are the improvements that we've made to payments for Medicare Advantage, where we want to use the most up-to-date data we can to make sure that we've made to payments for Medicare Advantage, where we want to use the most up-to-date data we can to make sure that we are paying accurately. And all of the Medicare Advantage options,

as you see during this open enrollment, are stable. Stable premiums, stable benefits, and we are trying to make sure that these health plans are competing on what matters for people, on having access to world-class providers, on having high-quality care, on providing benefits that really matter that people need, and make sure that that Medicare dollar is being spent for you who rely on your health care to stay healthy. Dr. Meena Seshamani is the director of the Center for Medicare at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Doctor, thanks so much. Thank you for having me.

Your call is 305-995-1800. The deadline is fast approaching for enrolling or changing your plan in Medicare. What are you experiencing? 305-995-1800. What questions might you have? Send us a quick email radio at the Florida roundup.org. Jim Tolbert is along with us now. He is a Medicare counselor for shine shine. That's an acronym that stands for Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders. It's a program offered by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. Jim is in the Tampa area. Jim, welcome to the program. Thanks for your time. Well, thank you for having me. Let's start here tomorrow, Saturday, December 7th. That's the deadline for exactly what?

That is the deadline for people who are in original Medicare to change a drug plan or join a Medicare Advantage plan. People who are in Medicare Advantage, it will be the deadline for them to switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan or return to original Medicare and enroll in a drug plan. There will be an additional for people who are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans at the beginning of the year. There's a special enrollment period that runs from January 1st through March 31st, during which time they will be able to switch to a different Advantage plan or return to original Medicare and enroll in a drug plan. But that special enrollment period does not apply to people who are in original Medicare. All right. So really, if there's

Medicare kind of anywhere involved, maybe in your health insurance, tomorrow, December 7th, is a very important day for you. We got Paul's coming in already. Steve had just dropped off, but he was asking a question about what I think are Medigap plans between a plan N and a plan G. First, give us a review of these Medigap, these so-called Medigap parts of Medicare. Okay. So Medigap or Medicare supplement plans are plans that you purchase through a private insurance company that fill some of the gaps in original Medicare. They cover basically the cost sharing that exists with original Medicare.

They're not allowed to cover benefits such as dental, hearing aids, things like that, that are not covered by the Medicare program. They just cover the out-of-pocket costs that you have with Medicare. There are 10 different supplement packages that you can choose from. And the G is the most comprehensive that a person turning 65 after January 2020 can buy. And the N is a little less expensive than the G. The difference, the G covers all of the out-of-pocket costs, except for the Medicare Part B deductible for the year. And the Part B deductible, boy, this is the alphabet soup. Here we go, but we're going to weed through it and see through it together, Jim.

The Part B for a traditionalare covers doctor's visits not hospitalizations not your prescription drugs but your visit to your cardiologist for instance yes it would include um doctor visits it would include outpatient services all kinds outpatient surgery outpatient services of all kinds, outpatient surgery, outpatient tests. Part B includes durable medical equipment, wheelchairs, walkers, things like that, supplies. Basically everything except hospital, et cetera. So for the caller, Steve, who couldn't hold on, does he face a deadline tomorrow to decide if he wants to sign up for this Medigap, this supplemental coverage in addition to Medicare? No. Anyone who's enrolled in original Medicare can enroll in a Medicare supplement at any time. in a Medicare supplement at any time.

Okay. If somebody's in advantage, they have to return to original Medicare before they can sign up for Medigap. You can't have a Medigap if you're in advantage. Right, yeah. We'll sort through some of the advantage, what the Medicare advantage plans, which is private insurance.

We'll talk about that in a second here. Jim Talbert is with us. He is a Medicare counselor that works with the program offered by the state of Florida. The Medicare deadline for enrolling or changing plans is Saturday, tomorrow, December 7th. Odds are maybe somebody in your family is on Medicare or uses Medicare Advantage for some or all of their health care. 305-995-1800 is our phone number. Live calls now. 305-995-1800. Larry has been patient in North Miami Beach. Go ahead, Larry. You're on the radio.

Larry, are you with us? Larry put his phone down, but we're going to have him come on over to the phone and see if he can ask his question. He had navigated, I think, the Medicare system recently. Larry, you're with us in North Miami Beach? All right, let's put Larry back on hold and try to get to him momentarily. Robin, let's try Robin on line three in Coconut Grove. Go ahead, Robin. Yeah, hi, how are you?

Thanks for your patience. My one point that I wanted to point out is that when I get the calls to be on a Medicare Advantage plan, one of the things they always ask me is, am I on Medicaid also? Then they say, oh, we can offer you so much more, when actually anyone on Medicaid, you don't have to be on Medicare, can get those benefits because they are given by the United States government through Medicaid. And it's almost like false advertising saying that the Medicare Advantage plans are giving you SNAP cards and other things that you can get when you're just on Medicaid. So let's sort through a little bit of this, Robin, because Medicaid is generally a health program that is partially funded by the federal government through the state of Florida in this case. And it's usually income based.

It's different than Medicare, which is generally age based. Jim, is some, you know, some salesmanship perhaps that's happening by Medicare Advantage, private insurance companies looking for Medicare patients to sign on to their health plans, but comparing to Medicaid. Help sort through what Robin is hearing. Okay. People who are on Medicaid can enroll in one of the state Medicaid programs for their Medicaid benefits, or they have the option of enrolling in what's called a special needs plan, then they have one Medicare Advantage plan that covers all of their Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drug benefits, as opposed to if you have a state Medicaid plan, they are only paying the Medicaid portion of it, the dental portion of it, and you have to get your prescription drugs through a prescription drug plan and your medical benefits through Original Medicare. All right. Kate, you're next in Daytona Beach. Thanks for listening.

You are on the radio, Kate. Kate, line two. Daytona Beach. She has a question here, Jim, about pharmaceutical companies denying or switching medicines, perhaps as part of the so-called formulary. So the medicines that are listed as covered by a Part D plan. a Part D plan? Well, the plans are required to have a certain number of medications for every purpose, with the exception of a few categories of drugs, such as cancer drugs or AIDS drugs. They don't have to cover every medication, just a certain number for each purpose. to cover every medication, just a certain number for each purpose. And they try to construct a formulary that will be cost effective and provide good benefits for the enrollees, but they don't

have to cover every medication. Yeah, you really have to check that formulary to make sure maybe if you're on some maintenance medications to see if they're on that as part of your Part D plan. Jim, we appreciate the short time you had with us, but thank you for sharing your expertise navigating this important deadline for Floridians. Well, thank you for having me. Jim Tolbert is a Medicare counselor for SHINE, Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders. That's a program that's offered by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. The deadline to enroll in Medicare is tomorrow, Saturday, December 7th. We've got more to come here on the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station.

Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being here.

Next week on our program, the condominium crisis throughout the state of Florida. Thousands of Florida condo buildings where about a million and a half people live have to be inspected for structural problems, if they have any, before the end of this year. And that's in about three weeks. And they also have to start saving money

for regular repairs. So we want to know, if you live in a condominium, you own a condominium, what kind of shape is your condo in? And by condo, we mean the building. What kind of shape is the building in? Do you even know? How about your monthly assessments or any special assessments levy? Are you looking to buy or sell an older condo here in the Sunshine State? Let us know. Send

us an email this week, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. We'd love to hear from you. Now, Sunshine State politics and policies are headed to Washington in a pretty big way. The political story of this week is that President-elect Trump has been floating Governor Ron DeSantis as a possible nominee to be the Secretary of Defense. Now, Trump's first choice, Pete Hegseth, has come under increasing pressure for allegations of sexual assault and drinking. There have been at least a half dozen Florida folks tapped by Trump to serve in his second administration. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, former State Attorney General Pam Bondi

as the U.S. Attorney General, Representative Mike Walz as the National Security Advisor, just three of them. And of course, there was Matt Gaetz. And the idea as the top law enforcement official, that idea ultimately was dropped. And this week, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Conister said he did not want to be the director of the Drug Enforcement Agency, despite being Trump's first pick. So let's talk about all of this with Kimberly Leonard, a politics writer extraordinaire with Politico.

Kimberly, welcome back to the program. Nice to have you. Hey, thanks for having me. So how might the political sensibility of Florida influence lawmaking on Capitol Hill and at the White House? Well, it's certainly shaking things up already, right? I mean, we've seen sort of these explosive announcements from Trump that have caught a lot of people off guard. And, you know, obviously Trump was president before, but I think what happened after the first time he was president is he came to Florida sort of in exile. And he kind of is this quintessential Florida man, you know.

First of all, a lot of Floridians are from somewhere else. But second of all, there's Floridians, I find, as someone who lived in D.C. for a while, there's a lot, there's just more out there, right? They're less risk averse. There's kind of this, OK, well, let's just go out there, see what happens. And it's in that culture has permeated Trump and it very much will permeate his administration. It's funny when you say that.

It reminds me that the Florida House in Washington, D.C., which has been described as almost an embassy for a state in Washington, right? As this place that has, that allows the gathering of Floridians and politicos to mingle, as it were, and kind of the only state in the nation that has its

quote-unquote embassy in Washington. Maybe that'll be put to significant use in this upcoming administration. What is the brand of politics, though, in Florida do you think that Trump wants to export to Washington? Well, what's interesting is I actually think a lot of it is going to sort of be cribbing Governor Ron DeSantis. You know, DeSantis is always the one who's referred to as Trump light or Trump without the baggage. But the two of them actually feed off of each other and a lot of their policies and their postures. And so I think we're going to see a lot of similarities with education pieces. They'll probably push back very heavily on any kinds of trans rights, either measures that happened under Biden or that were backed, including involving minors. And he's talking about dismantling the Department of Education.

He's talking about getting rid of DEI and so many different parts of government. And all of that was not a Trump, were not Trumpian ideas. They were really germinated from Florida, especially with Governor DeSantis. How about on the economy? Because, you know, when we looked at exit polls and we saw surveys of voters and particularly Trump voters, inflation in the economy was a leading issue for them. With Floridians moving into national security, we could certainly talk about that, but in law enforcement, possibly with the Department of Justice and elsewhere throughout the administration and secondary and tertiary

roles, what is some of the Floridian economic policymaking that could be in the queue? Well, I think mainly the lower taxes, right? So they're going to be tackling that fairly early, as my understanding in Congress, that, you know, there are tax expirations that happen from the first time Trump was in office. So they'll be dealing with that very early on. You know, some of the other things are going to be a lot harder. You know, obviously the interest rate, that's up to the Fed. Right. Right. That's a big one for people with being able to afford housing or not housing rather. And so, yeah, I think there's going to be a look at some of the tax provisions mainly. And, you know, I think immigration is also another area. Yeah. So that

was the other one I wanted to ask you about. Those were the two big issues when you spoke to voters in early November, driving their vote, the economy and immigration. Yeah, exactly that was the other one I wanted to ask you about. Those were the two big issues when you spoke to voters in early November, driving their vote, the economy and immigration. Yeah, exactly. And so, look, what I can say is, so we have a lot of newsletters at Politico. I write the Florida one. We also have them in Massachusetts, Illinois, New York. Now, a lot of those newsletters often lead with the migrant crisis

and how they're having trouble housing people and so forth. I don't write about that in Florida because that is not something that Florida has welcomed, right? We haven't brought people in, in all masks that are paid for by the state to be able to be housed and so forth. And so there is going to be that posture replicated by Trump, where he is going to be a lot harder on immigration. They're talking about deporting people very early on. And so there is going to be that parallel with how Florida has, even though it is a very, of course, immigrant-heavy state, the idea is whether it's through legal channels or not.

Yeah, immigrant-heavy state, which has seen its share of migrants, but really absorbed with the various diaspora that have come before here in Florida. So we haven't seen the same kind of migrant shelter challenges that, as you mentioned, you know, Chicago has had in Illinois or New York has had in the Empire State. Exactly. And there have been certain designations over the years, you know, in terms of seeking asylum and all these other things that qualify differently versus, you know, crossing the border. You know, just so it's more much more complicated. But yes, it is a very diverse state. You know, where I live, I can walk around certain neighborhoods where nobody speaks English and you can get out, get by just fine.

Yep. Kimberly Leonard is with us here, a politics reporter, author of the Florida Kimberly is with us here, a politics reporter, author of the Florida Playbook for Politico. We're talking about the exportation of policy, policymakers and politicians from Florida to the second Trump administration. Some of the names are very well known if narrow Republican majority in Congress when he takes office next year. Lots of differences, though, between federal lawmaking and state lawmaking. state political leaders move to Washington? What might they be in store for as they move from statewide lawmaking to something that is certainly on a much larger stage and a much brighter spotlight? Well, that and also a lot slower. You know, Congress takes a very long time to get things done. And for a lot of lawmakers, that can be frustrating. I remember Senator Rubio talking about that before he ran for president and then became very accomplished in getting things done in terms of getting his name on legislation and so forth. So there is that barrier. You know, obviously, there's a super majority here in Florida for Republicans. So Governor DeSantis has been able to do almost everything that he has set out to do. Makes people kind of wonder probably if there's any meat on the bone left, as he has put it.

And so, yeah, there is going to be that difference. And again, I think just the different type of personality and culture is important to keep highlighting just because D.C. is a much more cautious place. It doesn't like change. It does not like a lot of disruption. And we saw that, you know, when Biden was elected, a lot of people just said, I just want normal, you know, I just want calm. And I think then another reason why then Trump was was then elected, you know, this past year was because Biden didn't deliver on what he had promised on that. And so that made people feel that their lives were very disrupted in terms of the economy and things happening around the world and so forth. At least that's what I hear from voters.

And so it is going to be, I think, challenging the culture clash. And that's why we all often see that the big personalities in Congress, they come from Florida. Yeah. Yeah. So speaking of the kind of the culture clash, as it were, the governor ran for president. Let's not forget that his presidential campaign really was around the theme of what he called making America Florida. The campaign obviously failed, stalled out before it really got out of Iowa. But it seems like the message hasn't. The campaign obviously failed, stalled out before it really got out of Iowa. But it seems like the message hasn't. The message certainly was delivered to one individual who happens to live on Palm Beach Island in Florida and will soon be moving at least part-time to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue again. Yeah, I mean, and I'm not, I don't think that DeSantis himself ever used that phrase.

It was used a lot in the media and so forth. He would call it, you know, the Florida blueprint and so forth. You know, the big thing with DeSantis, I think he does remain pretty popular with the party. But there is a sense of what does he do next? Right. Because he's term limited out in twenty twenty six. And so if he does run for president in twenty twenty eight, I mean, I guess he could spend, you know, a couple of years running. Certainly we've seen how long these campaigns are. But it will it will mean, OK, what spotlight do you have?

Because the governor's mansion was one thing, right, to be able to showcase when you're running for office. But I guess it comes down to some degree, you know, the poker game of will will Trump nominate DeSantis and would DeSantis accept it or not? You know, we'll leave that for you to cover in the playbook, Kimberly. But what about the the complex relationship these two guys have had is putting it mildly. DeSantis arguably has the then president to credit for his first election as governor. But what about their ideological bonds? Yeah, I mean, it's amazing because they are very aligned in so many ways. And in fact, a lot of the criticism

that DeSantis had about Trump was that he didn't follow through on a lot of the things that he agreed with him on. And, you know, there were a lot of reasons for that, obviously, one of which is that, hey, guess what? It's a lot harder in Washington than it is in Florida when you have super majority to get things done. But my

understanding is that their relationship is fine. Um, I think that there are certain things that Trump admires about DeSantis, um, that he thinks, okay, if I were to bring him on, he would follow through on my agenda there. Again, they're very similar. But I don't know that the relationship or excuse me, but I do know that the relationship between DeSantis and a lot of Trump's staff is not where it would need to be. Particularly the chief of staff of the White House, the incoming chief of staff of the White House, Susie Wiles. Well, not just her. Well, not just her. I mean, all the people that she's recruited, coached and mentored over the years, who also worked for DeSantis in the past, by the way, who similarly were mistreated by the governor. And so it's not even that there's been past a lot of things in politics we've seen i mean look at rubio and trump right so that happens but i'm not sure that there's the confidence and trust built up there and hey it could also be trump is just mit romning

ronda santos right where he kind of might might bring him into the fold a little only to ultimately say no you're not coming on board. Yeah, the famous steak dinner of the former senator from Utah with the then-President-elect Trump back, I guess, eight years ago now. Kimberly Leonard, watching all this as politics reporter, author of the Florida Playbook for Politico. Kimberly, thanks, as always, for sharing some time and sharing your reporting with us. Much appreciated. Anytime.

Thank you. I'm Tom Hudson. You are listening to The Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Well, let's stick with politics here, but do a little fact-checking with our partner, PolitiFact, to sort out fact from fiction, truth from lies.

Sam Putterman is the Florida reporter for PolitiFact and back with us. Sam, nice to have you again. Welcome back. Hey, thanks for having me. We've got a couple of items this week to put to the test. Both relate to the president-elect. Let's tackle tariffs here, because just before Thanksgiving, the president-elect threatened to levy new tariffs on products from Mexico, Canada, and China. Now, Trump has obviously

been very vocal about his lack of law, well, his love of tariffs. He's used them as negotiating tactics for other issues. And that might be a play here with the promise for some new fees on stuff from our big trading neighbors, Mexico and Canada, particularly. So, Sam, the question that has been floating around in social media is can a president unilaterally impose tariffs on products that are imported into America? Yeah. So experts say that he could, a president could act unilaterally without support from Congress.

You know, while the Constitution says Congress holds the power to impose tariffs, multiple laws have been passed over the years that cedes that power to the president. So talk a little bit more about that, about, you know, Constitution says one thing, but what gives the president the power to impose those tariffs without Capitol Hill having to approve them? Right. So, for example, a section of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act lets the president impose tariffs if national security is threatened. Trump has already used this for his steel and aluminum tariffs in his first term and some of which Biden actually retained. And another section of the 1974 Trade Act allows tariffs when the president says a foreign country burdens or restricts U.S. commerce through trade agreement violations. And Trump also used this authority for some of his first term tariffs. So while

enacting these authorities, you know, require some investigations and determinations by various offices. Experts said the process really could be accomplished relatively quickly, you know, by cabinet officials. Yeah. And something to watch, certainly late January, early February. Let's talk about the president-elect's top health care nominee, Robert Kennedy Jr. He's a longtime skeptic of vaccines. And there was a social media thread making the rounds claiming that Kennedy could ban vaccines if confirmed as the health and human services secretary. And then this post urged people to get vaccines now. So sort this out here, Sam, the PolitiFact.

Can the Health and Human Services Secretary of the United States ban vaccines? So, no. Vaccine law and policy experts, you know, told us that if he is confirmed, RFK Jr. would not be able to unilaterally ban vaccines. A nationwide ban would require Congress. Officials must also follow federal regulations to revoke an existing vaccines license. And vaccine manufacturers could sue if they believe the government is violating that procedure. What about the impact that the Health and Human Services Secretary may have on the supply, the availability, or even the accessibility to get vaccines? get vaccines. Right. So he could alter the country's vaccination practices and reduce how accessible they are. Some of his power rests on whether Trump's administration can get buy-in from

other lawmakers and public health leaders, some of whom Trump could also appoint. So with the help of others receptive to his beliefs, Kennedy might be able to stop the approval of new vaccines, or he could decline or revoke emergency use authorization for his vaccines. It just depends on, you know, how much cooperation he gets. A lot of nuance, but it's really important to sort out the fact from fiction for all the details. Sam Putterman, Florida reporter with our news partner, PolitiFact. Sam, thanks so much. Great. Thanks so much. Want to remind you, if you've got a claim that you've heard from a politician or on social media that you'd like us to fact check and put up for a PolitiFact for Sam and the team there at PolitiFact, just email us, send us a link to maybe the social media claim or send us the

claim itself, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. We are happy to PolitiFact as we sort through fact from fiction together, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. That's also the email. If you live in a condominium, we would love to hear from you for our program next week as we again return to the topic of the condo crisis in Florida as new condominium reforms for buildings and associations come into play in 2025, just a matter of a few weeks away. Radio at the Florida Roundup dot org is our email. We'll look for you in the inbox. Meantime, stick around. We've got plenty more to come, including a very special birthday in the state of Florida this week. You're listening to The Florida Roundup. Covering Florida Navigator

Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being here. 2025 is three and a half weeks away. If you own a condo in a building at least 30 years old and at least three stories tall, the clock is ticking. Have you gotten your building's milestone inspection? It's due before New Year's Day and you're not getting an extension. Despite a pledge by Governor Ron DeSantis this fall that relief would be coming before the end of the calendar year, there will be no special legislative session to reform the reforms that were put in

place because of the Surfside condo collapse. Lack of a special session is not lack of importance of the issue. This is Jennifer Bradley. She's a Republican state senator. Her district includes Gainesville and Lake City. There was not a game plan. There was not proposals put forth that were vetted. The top Democrat in the state Senate, Jason Pizzo, agrees with her. To call a special session right now is yet again giving a particular sort of allowance to delay and push back really important requirements. The two senators hosted a bipartisan summit this week addressing the approaching new condo regulations. Carlton Gillespie from our partner station WLRN was there. In the wake of the deadly 2021 Surfside condo collapse, the state passed laws intended to make condos safer.

That's resulted in homeowners across the state being hit with rising HOA fees and special assessments. Pizzo says that the increased costs were a result of long overdue bills. We went 30 years without doing anything and all of a sudden we're shocked and surprised that all of a sudden we're going to have an expensive sort of wake-up call of tough love measure. Hizzo says that the goal of the regulations was to give owners a transparent snapshot of the financial and structural health of their units. But he also said that the owners share some of the blame. Surely you had a home inspection because you probably got financing, and it told you about the appliances and the condition and the useful life remaining and all of these things. You did this for the interior of your unit, but you didn't do it for the building that your unit is sitting in.

Even going as far as to suggest that residents killed in the Surfside condo collapse could have done more. The 98 people, my constituents who died in Surfside, right? Are they partly to blame for not asking the tough questions that put themselves in peril? Probably. I don't know. Surfside is in Pizzo's district. I'm Carlton Gillespie in Davie.

Both senators say the reforms aim to bring transparency for condominium owners, transparency about the structural condition of their buildings and the financial realities of their owners associations. These are not professional owners, professional board members, and yet I'm more concerned about the octogenarian who doesn't know what the actual structural integrity of a building is. And if it's really expensive, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to risk your life. I'm just not going to do it. The first deadline is New Year's Eve, when older buildings have to have a structural inspection. This is a visual inspection to determine the structural condition.

This report has to be completed by December 31st. Now, if something is found, then there has to be a second phase inspection that is more detailed, and any problem found needs to be fixed within a year. Senator Bradley says it's a matter of personal and financial health for owners. You are not going to be insurable or bankable if you have a building that is not inspected, a building that is not safe, and a building that does not have financial health. The private market saw surfside, just like the legislature saw surfside, and change was coming. Then there's the money issue, or what the law calls a, quote, structural integrity reserve study. Basically, does a condo association have money or is it saving money to make

important repairs? Now, this has led to a lot of confusion. Some condominium associations are levying huge special assessments and jacking up monthly fees, thinking they need to have all the money now for a future repair, like, say, a roof in a few years. Bradley says the condo associations are required to sock away money so that they have the cash to pay for a new roof or whatever the maintenance is when it's time. I think that it is not as dire as some say. She thinks the sharp rise in monthly fees and special charges faced by condo owners is driven mostly by higher insurance costs, which have gone up thanks to the uncertainty after the Surfside tragedy. We have to have an insurance discussion. We have to have a financing discussion

and we need to make sure that we have best practices in how we implement. We will talk more about the coming deadlines for condo owners next week on this program. We want to hear from you. Condo owners, let us know. Have you gotten your building inspected? What did you find? How much do you know about your association's finances? And have your monthly fees gone up? Email us, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Are you looking to buy or sell a condominium in Florida? Email us, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. We may use your comments next week. Some mixed news this week for condo and homeowners in Lee County. The good news is for folks living in unincorporated Lee County who have insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA determined unincorporated Lee County residents with policies issued under the NFIP will keep the 25% discount.

That's Lee County Manager Dave Harner. There are about 43,000 homeowners in the unincorporated parts of Lee County with flood insurance. But for homeowners in Fort Myers Beach, the news from FEMA is not good. The agency put Fort Myers Beach on probation from the flood insurance program. It means the town's rating that is used to set flood insurance premiums will be downgraded. That will make flood insurance more expensive. Sandra Victorova is a reporter with our partner station in Fort Myers, WGCU. Sandra, why did FEMA downgrade its flood rating for Fort Myers Beach? Well, essentially, it had warned the town of Fort Myers Beach that there were certain standards that they had to meet to make sure that the town,

the community was prepared for future storms. They felt that the town did not meet those standards, and that included not removing what they consider noncompliant structures, these metal containers. Describe how people in Fort Myers Beach have been using these shipping containers for now two years. Homeowners who, you know, wanted to salvage some things and there were repairs going on in their homes and needed to store furniture, etc. For other folks, it is really the way they are operating business. We spoke to a business owner at La Ola Restaurant, which is in this Times Square, sort of the heart of Fort Myers Beach, popular restaurant. And he

was determined to like set up shop days after the storm. Essentially, he started first in a food truck and he was like, no, I need to like set up a permanent shop here because obviously the restaurant was destroyed and essentially put two of these metal containers together and got it hooked up to electricity and has been operating a very popular restaurant again. I mean, it still looks like a container, but, you know, it looks like a fun place. Folks having a great time there. Yeah, this guy is Tom Houghton. He's been operating out of these containers for two years. Yeah, this guy is Tom Houghton. He's been operating out of these containers for two years.

And he actually told you he thinks the containers are really better than putting up a more expensive building. You end up having to put a $4 million building on top of this property. And it's going to be a totally different culture here on the beach if we only allow these mega million dollar properties in the area. properties in the area. So Tom is essentially worried about, you know, the financial future for himself, for his teenage boys, not sure what he's going to do. At this point, you know, he created this social media video trying to get anybody's attention to show, really demonstrate, I can get these containers out within four hours. How much better can you ask? And at the same time, give people time to rebuild in what they consider a really complicated process financially and just obviously meeting the standards at the state, local and town level. You also spoke with Jackie Lizak. She's the president of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce. She used to own a small boutique

hotel called the Sea Gypsy Inn. It washed away in Hurricane Ian. It's a shame that we're being held to almost a hostage with the discount rate on the flood insurance. So, Sandra, if she feels that she's being held hostage or even the town's being held hostage to these standards, is the ransom just to rebuild at today's standards, even if they are more expensive? ransom just to rebuild at today's standards, even if they are more expensive? Yeah, that is essentially the only solution. Obviously, the town had asked for more time. They are not getting it. The town has sort of given in. So what are the next steps?

So I reached out to FEMA. FEMA said that, one, they declined our request for an interview, but they did send me a statement saying that they will continue to work with Fort Myers Beach to try to help them get to the standards that they need to reach so that they can get that discount in the future. But in their statement to me said that that would be at least a two-year process before they would be reconsidered again to change their status. Sandra Victorova is a reporter with our partner station in Fort Myers, WGCU. Thanks so much for sharing your reporting. Thank you. And I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Finally on the Roundup this week, it was 77 years ago today, Friday, December 6th, 1947,

when Florida got its first national park. Today we mark the achievement of another great conservation victory. President Harry S. Truman was in Everglades City along the Gulf Coast to dedicate the Everglades as a national park. In this park we shall preserve tarpon and trout, pompano, bear, deer, crocodiles and alligators and rare birds of great beauty. The effort to protect the Everglades started more than a decade before Truman made his dedication. Already the area stretching from Flamingo on Florida Bay north to Lake Okeechobee had been scarred by decades of dredging, canal digging, and levees.

Only about half of the original wetlands remain today and only a portion of that is the National Park. 77 years on, it remains one of the most unique national parks throughout the country. Its majesty doesn't present itself in big bold mountains. Its beauty doesn't spring upon you like a towering waterfall or some vast canyon opening up in front of you. It's a quiet space. Bird calls compete with the rustle of grasses and the slow ripple of fresh water as it slowly moves down our peninsula. President Truman recognized this 77 years ago. Here are no lofty peaks seeking the sky. No mighty glaciers or rushing streams wearing away the uplifted land.

Here is land, tranquil in its quiet beauty. The Everglades National Park. It may be 77 years old as we know it, but it's millennia of years that can still be seen and heard if you look and listen closely. And that's our program for today. It is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa by Bridget O'Brien and Grayson Docter.

The program's technical director and WLRN's vice president of radio is Peter Maritz. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto Jay, and Jackson Harp. Richard Ives answers our phones. The theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at aaronleibos.com. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and supporting public media in your neighborhood. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend.