Health insurance, Babcock Ranch and Cigarettes

With three weeks left to push through his health insurance plan, Gov. Charlie Crist began Tuesday morning by continuing to turn on the pressure for his health insurance plan. Crist trotted out leaders representing Florida's retailers, businesses, counties governments and realtors at his press briefing, where he said he is "increasingly optimistic" about the prospects of his plan for the state to partner with private insurers so they can offer residents basic health care coverage for about $150 a month. "It's moving along very, very nicely in the Senate. It's picking up steam in the House," Crist said. The governor's proposal has met its firmest resistance from the chair of the House Healthcare Council, Rep. Aaron Bean of Fernandina Beach. Bean wants the state to permit health insurance companies to offer coverage plans with no mandates. Crist's proposal, while requiring fewer mandates than currently required, says insurers have to offer certain care, such as mammograms and immunizations. Clinging again to his signature optimism, Crist said he believes "things are starting to break open" with Bean. *** Later in the morning, Gov. Crist, Attorney General Bill McCollum, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson discussed a management plan for Babcock Ranch during their Cabinet meeting. Straddling Charlotte and Lee counties, the state's portion of the 91,000-acre Babcock Ranch is a wildlife preserve stretching from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf. The state purchased the 74,000-acre swathe in 2006 for $350 million. The state's goal is to devise a plan for the property – which includes environmentally sensitive lands, a working cattle ranch, sightseeing tours and farming – that will generate enough money to pay for preserving it. The Cabinet has to approve a management plan by July of this year. >Babcock Ranch Management LLC wants More leeway in terms of the money-making operations it can offer on the land, saying it has lost revenue in the past year since the state prohibited it from harvesting cypress trees and allowing private hunting. Environmentalists are concerned that certain practices, such as cutting down cypress trees, undermine the effort to operate the ranch in an environmentally sustainable way. Over the next three months, all parties will try to Strike a balance. "We are doing ourselves a disservice if we don't allow the management company to have the resources they need," said Rep. Michael Grant, R-Port Charlotte. *** As lawmakers in both chambers wrangle over billions of dollars in budget cuts, a Senate committee gave a boost to a proposed $1-a-pack tax increase on Cigarettes Tuesday. Proponents of raising the so-called "user fee" say it would bring $1 billion of revenue to the state budget. But, the proposed tax increase appears doomed even if it passes the four More Senate committees it has to go through, starts to move in the House, then clears the Senate and House floors. Gov. Crist gave an uncharacteristically definitive answer Tuesday when asked if he would support the tax: "No." -- Carol Lee