Leon County, Florida prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation relating to a $10 million donation from Centene to the Hope Florida Foundation, a nonprofit associated with Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to a joint report from the Miami Herald and the Times Tallahassee Bureau.
Centene’s $10 million donation in September 2024 was directed to a charity supporting “Hope Florida,” and was part of a broader $67 million settlement to resolve allegations of overbilling Florida’s Medicaid program for pharmacy services. Centene has settled with more than 20 states over similar allegations for a total of $1.25 billion.
Hope Florida is an initiative developed by Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis in 2021 and “serves as a connection point for community collaboration between the public and private sector, faith-based communities, and nonprofits.”
Florida state law stipulates that settlement funds must be deposited into a trust fund or the state’s general fund, but the $10 million donation was cleared by the Agency for Health Care Administration as part of the larger settlement and not disclosed to the legislature.
“First of all, this was a settlement,” Gov. DeSantis said April 10, per the Florida Phoenix. “It was a good deal that was negotiated. When you do settlements, you can try to get as much money as you can, but this was in addition to what they were getting. This is kind of like a cherry on top, where they agreed to make an additional contribution, and so we were served well by what AHCA did.”
Few details are available about the criminal probe or who is leading it. On May 20, Gov. DeSantis was asked about the probe by the Tampa Bay Times.
“Well, I mean, I can tell you, this has been a very successful program,” he responded, per the report. “Everything that’s been thrown at it is pure politics. I believe in this program deeply, and I stand by it 100%.”
Centene is the largest managed Medicaid plan in Florida, with more than one million members.
The Herald’s full report is here.
