DeSantis says ABA managed care shift and fraud crackdown cut projected spending by ~$1B

Right · 2Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Tuesday (6 October 2026) that Florida's projected annual Medicaid spending on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a therapy commonly used for children with autism, has dropped by nearly $1 billion. 1 2 Right · 2Spending had been projected to reach $3.86 billion and is now projected at $2.88 billion for fiscal year 2026-27. Fox News put the reduction at nearly $980 million. 1 2 Right · 2DeSantis said the transition of ABA services into managed care, together with efforts to combat fraud, produced the decrease. Per Fox News, officials credited fraud enforcement, managed care and utilization management. 1 2

Right · 1The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) launched a statewide revalidation of Medicaid providers earlier this year and increased provider screening and claims monitoring. It focused on areas with heightened billing risk, including ABA. 1 Right · 1According to the governor's office, since June AHCA has made over 150 referrals to the Attorney General's Office, placed over 260 providers on payment restrictions or suspensions, and terminated over 220 providers for fraud, waste or abuse. The terminated providers accounted for over $250 million in Medicaid billing last year. 1 Right · 2Investigators reported providers billing Medicaid for services through weekends and holidays for months, and in some cases for more than 24 hours of services in one day. 1 2

Right · 1AHCA Secretary Shevaun Harris said misuse harms families and Medicaid recipients whose IDs may be misused. She called providers who engage in such behaviour "a predator". 1 Right · 1AHCA told Fox News Digital it has issued more than 1,000 adverse decisions on provider enrollment or re-enrollment since January 2026 and conducted 400 site visits. It is piloting identity verification with SentiLink and has imposed enrollment moratoriums on certain high-risk provider categories. 2 Right · 2Florida also set up an Applied Behavior Analysis Task Force to increase program accountability. Fox News said the approach seeks to stop suspicious claims before payment rather than recover money afterwards, mirroring a call from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to move away from "pay-and-chase" models. 1 2

Right · 2The savings are projections from state officials; the coverage gives no independent verification and does not say how much of the reduction comes from each factor. 2 1