Signaling that health care could be a key issue during the 2024 legislative session, Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, announced Friday that he has created the House Select Committee on Health Innovation.
The committee, which will be chaired by Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, will “review issues relating to access and affordability in health care,” Renner said in a memo to House members.
Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, also said during an appearance this summer on the “Deeper Dive with Dara Kam” podcast that she wants to take steps during the 2024 session to attract more health-care providers.
“We do not have enough providers, whether it be physicians, nurses, technicians … facilities to handle our current population comfortably and easily,” Passidomo said. “You know, I hear oftentimes from constituents that if they want to have some kind of elective surgery, they have got to wait eight months to a year to get in.”
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Without “creative solutions,” she said, “it’s only going to get worse.” Renner also announced Friday that he is recreating the Select Committee on Hurricane Resiliency & Recovery “to review Florida’s recovery efforts surrounding hurricanes and to ensure that we are prepared for future storms.”
The move came a little more than a week after Category 3 Hurricane Idalia hit parts of North Florida. Majority Leader Michael Grant, R-Port Charlotte, will chair the hurricane select committee.
The 2024 session will start Jan. 9. The House has scheduled an initial series of subcommittee meetings on Sept. 19 to begin preparing for the session.
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