If there is a single conservative politician who epitomizes everything that is wrong with the Republican party, it has to be Florida’s crooked (if not deranged) governor, Rick Scott. There apparently is no lie too big, too blatant or too self-serving that Scott will not use in his deliberate quest to turn Florida politics into a bigger joke than it already is. Here’s his latest.
The state’s chief economist has warned the staff of Gov. Rick Scott that his Medicaid cost estimates are wrong, but Scott keeps using them anyway, according to e-mails obtained by Health News Florida.
Scott says he opposes expanding Florida Medicaid because it would cost too much: $63 billion over 10 years, he says, with the state paying $26 billion of that.
But those numbers are based on a flawed report, according to a legislative budget analyst and State Economist Amy Baker. A series of e-mails obtained by Health News Florida shows the analysts warned Scott’s office the numbers were wrong weeks ago, but he is still using them. He cited them in a Tampa Bay Times op-ed on Sunday and at at a Washington press conference on Monday.
Scott knew that his numbers were completely off but he went with them anyway because he and his fellow Republicans would never let anything as trivial as truth or facts get in the way of blocking the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. As Steve Benen points out, the actual cost to Florida for Medicaid expansion would be in the range of $1 billion over the next 10 years – not the $26 billion Scott claimed.
I don’t think I’ll ever understand why Floridians elected this con man to govern them. It was common knowledge at the time that Scott had been CEO of a company that pleaded guilty to 14 counts of corporate felonies after a U.S. Justice inquiry discovered that Scott’s company had swindled Medicaid and Medicare for millions. The company was fined a total of $1.7 billion in what was to be the largest government fraud settlement in U.S. history.
The people of Florida knew this…and yet a majority of them elected him to office anyway. Now all Floridians are paying the price for the stupidity of so many. How unfortunate.
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Yes, it is mindboggling that one of the states with the largest recipients of medicare would elect a man who defrauded medicare while CEO. I guess it’s no surprise he’s defrauding people again and again in the area of healthcare. Can’t wait til Karma catches up with him.
If my information serves me correct Rick Scott is an outright CROOK !
His Drug Testing for Welfare recipients was a TOTAL CON !
Florida welfare drug testing results for 12 month’s:
Percent that didn’t pass – 2%
Savings to the state from the 2% – $60,000 for the year
Percent that passed – 98%
Cost to test – 178 million dollars
Total savings – A MINUS 178 MILLION BUCKS!
Winners – drug testing companies
Losers – Taxpayers of Florida
Gov. Scott held economic interests in the drug testing company that was awarded the sole contract for drug testing.
In April he sold off his stock valued at $62 million in the company he founded in 2001, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
That’s Republicans for you.
Sue, I really wish I could believe in Karma. Kinda like religion for me – I really wish it were true but just can’t pretend to believe in something that makes zero sense with investigation.
For example, if Karma worked, Bush & Cheney wouldn’t be walking around as free men.
The average voter is dumber than a bag of doorknobs.
As if democrats have not had their share of corrupt governors. Remember Rod Blagojevich?
Yes, redstategirl… And look where blagojevich is now… Right where Rick Scott should be.
@Goldensun: Where are you getting these figures from? I can’t find anything close to what you are using.
Hi BradCK – I went to several sites but this is one of them, hope it helps – GS
“Rick Scott’s Drug Law Isn’t Saving Florida Much Money”
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/08/24/303133/drug-testing-welfare-recipients-could-line-rick-scotts-
pockets-but-it-isnt-saving-florida-much-money/?mobile=nc
What would be most hilarious, if it wasn’t so shameful, is this headline in Florida’s Miami Herald prediction.
“Report: Rick Scott’s welfare drug tests could save FL $9m
Lost in the condemnation of Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal to drug test welfare recipients to save the state money is the deterrence effect, according to a new report from the Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative-leaning think tank.
Estimated savings: $9 million, according to the group’s analysis of Florida Department of Children and Families data. “??
Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/09/report-rick-scotts-welfare-drug-tests-
could-save-fl-9m.html#storylink=cpy