Ashley Lopez: On the heels of a mass flush of top-level employees at the state Health Department, one ousted employee sent a 2,900-word e-mail warning that the agency was in decline and being run by “idealogues.”

Ralph De La Cruz: According to a recent report, the state’s plan to charge every Medicaid recipient $10 per month could result in the disenrollment of 800,000 Floridians, the overwhelming majority children.

A law that took effect Nov. 17 had the inadvertent effect of delaying a crackdown on pain clinics that are fueling an epidemic of prescription drug abuse.