[jimbo2012]

No wonder the Villages and its developer have given $150,000 so far this year to Gov. Rick Scott's re-election effort. All developer Gary Morse wants is to bypass state law and win approval to build a nursing home in the sprawling retirement community. Legislators representing the community are sponsoring a bill that would make an exception just for the Villages, and with a friend in the Governor's Mansion there is little doubt that legislation would become law if it gets to Scott's desk.

The sweetheart deal shouldn't get that far, no matter how many political checks Morse and the Villages write.

In 2001, the Legislature approved a moratorium on new nursing home facilities to better control Medicaid costs. The moratorium has been extended to at least 2016.
But HB 1159 would carve out an exception to the moratorium for any deed-restricted retirement community of at least 8,000 residents located in a county where at least 25 percent of the population is at least 65 years old. The county could have no more than 16.1 nursing home beds per thousand residents 65 or older. As the Legislature's own staff analysis concludes, only one community in the state of Florida fits that precise description. Guess which one.

Normally, developers who want to obtain a permit to build or expand a nursing home facility can petition the Agency for Health Care Administration for a certificate of need. That's what developer Steve Bogomilsky did to build the Villages Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center just east of the Villages. Bogomilsky followed the rules. But Republicans Rep. Marlene O'Toole and Sen. Alan Hays, whose districts include the Villages, introduced legislation that only benefits their most prominent constituent while putting Bogomilsky at an economic disadvantage. That's simply unfair.

If Morse wants a new nursing home for the Villages, he should do what any other developer does: Follow the law.
But Morse isn't that patient.
It apparently is easier for him to push legislation that benefits only his development and lavish campaign money on the governor who would sign it into law.
The Florida Legislature is one big conflict of interest, but such brazen self-entitlement ought to be too much to stomach even in Tallahassee.

Tampa Bay times
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And By Ludmilla Lelis, Orlando Sentinel

State Rep. Marlene O'Toole, sponsor for the House version of the bill, said the population of The Villages, which stretches over Lake, Sumter and Marion counties, has "exploded."

"The need is now for us,'' the Lady Lake Republican said.

That need may not jibe with the healthy, active lifestyles promoted at The Villages, which dubs itself as "America's Friendliest Hometown" and boasts dozens of golf courses, social clubs and restaurants — but lacks a cemetery.

But the reality is that nursing-home care is needed, said Elaine Dreidame, president of the Property Owners' Association of The Villages.

"We have residents that have settled here, and it's not like they're going to go to family up North when they reach a nursing-home stage," Dreidame said. "No matter how active you are, eventually you will get older, and you may need it."

Florida has had a cap on new nursing-home beds since 2001, when the Legislature set the moratorium as a way to control Medicaid costs. There are exceptions for veterans homes and for transfers of nursing-home-bed spaces to areas with greater demand. Also, facilities with an occupancy rate of 96 percent or higher can request more bed space.

Though the proposed bills don't specifically name The Villages, the specific wording, creating an exemption for larger communities that are deed-restricted for those 55 and older, makes The Villages the prime beneficiary.

Eight community nursing homes already exist within 10 miles, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration. Those facilities have a total of 821 beds and had an 85 percent occupancy this past fiscal year, state records show.

Two of those nursing homes just opened within the past year, state records show.

Tony Marshall, senior director of reimbursement for the Florida Health Care Association, an advocacy group for long-term-care providers, said an exemption for The Villages isn't needed because health-care companies are already responding to the demand.

Also, the average age for nursing-home residents is 85, so it may be several more years before there is greater demand. Census records show that among the community's key demographic of 55 and older, only about 11 percent of that group is older than 80.

Gary Lester, a spokesman for Gary Morse, developer of The Villages, wasn't available for comment.

Andrew Blechman, author of "Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Utopias," a 2008 book that explored The Villages and other unique retirement utopias, said it wasn't surprising the community is seeking such an exemption.


"The Villages is basically organized on a premise that what the builders want, the builders get, and they should be treated differently," Blechman said.

He added that it was interesting that the community was addressing an inevitable consequence of having a 55-and-older population.

"People are getting older, and they have to plan for it," he said. "But I guess building a nursing home wasn't part of the original marketing scheme."

Dreidame, who has lived in The Villages for 14 years, has seen firsthand the need for nursing-home care. She has known acquaintances who had to leave The Villages for nursing-home care before they died. Also, there are couples in which one person is healthy while the other needs such care, and it would be better for the couple if they could have a facility close to home.

"Do we fit the typical pattern of how many nursing homes you need? No. We're atypical, and we need this exception," she said.