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TALLAHASSEE — As controversy erupted last spring about Florida diverting $10 million from a Medicaid fraud settlement to the governor’s favored Hope Florida charity , the DeSantis administration insisted those dollars were not Medicaid funds.

Instead, the $10 million was described by Gov. Ron DeSantis as a “cherry-on-the-top” charitable donation the state was free to spend as it saw fit.

But a recent Medicaid payment from Florida to the federal government indicates otherwise: The state is including the $10 million in calculating its required federal pass-through of the settlement proceeds, just as it would do with any funds that truly belonged to Medicaid. “Not only did we lose $10 million, we are still paying the feds back for it,” said Re

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