Sarasota News Leader

10/18/2013

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Sarasota News Leader October 18, 2013 Page 42 the county's various health and human services agencies, a message the breakfast's organizers hope resonates in Tallahassee during next spring's legislative session. State Reps. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, and Doug Holder, R-Venice, were both on hand for the event, while staffers for both Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota, and Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, also showed up. The event was a blizzard of alarming statistics. Florida's homeless rate is 45 percent higher than the national rate. State funding for home and community-based elderly services has declined 20 percent since 2006 while the number of those on a waiting list for such services has increased 25 percent. Sarasota Memorial Hospital could lose out on $200 million over the next decade if the Legislature continues to refuse to expand Members of the Community Alliance, a coaliMedicaid through ObamaCare. tion of local health nonprofits, gathered last month to compile their list of the most import- Kathyrn Shea, the chairwoman of the Alliance's ant issues they want state lawmakers to legislative advocacy committee, highlighted address in 2014, breaking the items down into the importance of Medicaid expansion, pointcategories such as homelessness, behavioral ing out that the issue is a major priority for health and more. Thursday, they presented several Alliance organizations. And while those priorities directly to legislators. the state has projected a $845 million budget State Rep. Doug Holder, R-Venice, addresses the Legislature in Tallahassee. Photo courtesy myfloridahouse.gov

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