Republicans in Tallahassee are on a fast track towards decimating health care in Florida. Yesterday, the Florida House Budget Committee passed a proposal to eliminate $50 million for cancer research. I drafted this measure while in the State Senate to increase the cigarette tax by a dollar, generating $1 billion in health care funding and at least $50 million for lifesaving cancer research. This legislation garnered bipartisan support because cancer is an issue with no political boundaries, tragically touching the lives of most Americans.
Cancer research is now in the Republican crosshairs because they need to plug the holes they are blowing into the Medicaid system relied on by three million low-income, poor, elderly, and jobless Floridians. Simultaneously advancing in the legislature is a bill implementing statewide the for-profit Medicaid HMO experiment that has failed my constituents in Broward County. There, HMOs have tried to make a quick buck off Medicaid by bouncing families from insurance company to insurance company, restricting access to care, and even disenrolling high-risk pregnant women.
In what world does the governor believe we can save money by funneling taxpayer dollars to for-profit HMOs? Further, this reckless privatization plan endangers billions of dollars in annual federal Medicaid funding for Florida, posing tremendous long-term risk to taxpayers. Doctors and health providers who serve Medicaid patients know that letting HMOs siphon off some of the system's already insufficient funding will only make things worse. The bill will also increase uncompensated care taken on by hospitals, and other providers by eliminating coverage for "medically-needy" Floridians and capping state Medicaid funding.
These same battles are playing out in Washington. Rather than end billion-dollar taxpayer subsidies for oil companies or close offshore tax loopholes, Republicans slashed billions in funding for research into cancer, Alzheimer's, and other diseases at the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and other scientific powerhouses. Apparently, Tallahassee is using the same playbook that emphasizes cuts at all costs -- even at the expense of basic health care, life-saving research, and scientific advancement that can lead to a cure for cancer.
Washington Republicans are soon expected to unveil plans drastically cutting Medicaid, despite the fact that per capita, Medicaid spending grows at half the pace of private-sector health spending. It is true Medicaid is straining state budgets, but treating a symptom of high unemployment will not cure the disease. Since the financial crisis, stubbornly high unemployment has led more and more families to seek last resort care through Medicaid. Perhaps if Republicans in Tallahassee and in Washington focused more on boosting economic growth, creating new jobs, lowering insurance premiums, and bringing a shred of economic security back to middle class families, the American people -- and our state budgets -- would be better off.
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Of course, the insurance companies had sworn that they would be able to provide the services more economically.
"Truly I say to you, Because you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
this quote comes to you from a non-believing member of the mediocrity (useless eater).
the class war IS being televised and is quite obvious when you start to recognize the double talk.
"PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY", "PICK ONESELF UP BY THE BOOTSTRAPS" and the like are double talk for "WE'VE STOLEN EVERYTHING NOT NAILED DOWN" and you are on your own now.
It is your responsibility to do this. The citizens of Florida are depending on you. All Americans are depending on you.
Make it happen. That is your job. That is what you were elected for.
Set an example for elected representatives everywhere.
"Gov. Rick Scott, Solantic and conflict of interest: What's the deal?"
"Kenneth Gross, a Washington lawyer and a nationally recognized expert on ethics laws, said Florida is one of the few states where a spouse's investments don't "tag the public official with conflict."
"It's an area that's crying out for attention," he said.
Gross said Scott retains interest in Solantic despite putting it in his wife's revocable trust, where it can be withdrawn at will. He said Scott should have sold his interest in Solantic.
"He may not be in on the day-to-day running of the company and that's nice," Gross said. "But if he has ownership interest by virtue of a revocable trust, he maintains an interest in the welfare of the company."
By continuing to hold it, Scott shows "he thinks it's a viable, thriving business that will continue to make money for himself or his spouse," Gross said. '
Scott is about to make a horrible decision that will gut medicaid and hurt the voters in Florida. But it will enrich Scott and his family and friends financially, so there really is not question about whether or not he will make it happen.
"Gov. Rick Scott, Solantic and conflict of interest: What's the deal?"
"But in Florida, nothing bars Scott from promoting policies that could benefit a company from which his family benefits financially.
• Scott supports bills that would move nearly 3 million Medicaid recipients into private managed care plans. Solantic accepts traditional Medicaid at only one location but it contracts chainwide with several private Medicaid plans. If passed, the law would dramatically increase Solantic's potential patient base.
Scott worked with Bowling when he was chief executive of the Columbia/HCA hospital chain and she was a marketing executive there. In 1997, Scott was forced out amid a federal billing fraud investigation that resulted in the company paying a $1.7 billion penalty. Scott, who left with $10 million in severance and $300 million worth of stock and options, was never charged with any wrongdoing.
Four years later, Scott used part of that wealth to start Solantic with Bowling. Scott was active in the company and on its board until January 2010, when he began his run for governor.
Charles R. Evans, a retired HCA executive who worked with Scott, now represents Scott's wife's trust. He also is chairman of the Solantic board. "
"Gov. Rick Scott, Solantic and conflict of interest: What's the deal?"
"If you have a $62 million investment, representing the biggest single chunk of your $218 million in wealth, and you put it in a trust under your wife's name, does that mean you're no longer involved in the company? Florida Gov. Rick Scott says it does.
Scott has aggressively pursued policies like testing state workers and welfare recipients for drugs, switching Medicaid patients to private HMOs and shrinking public health clinics. All these changes could benefit that $62 million investment, but Scott sees no legal conflict between his public role and private investments.
And, experts say, under Florida law he is correct.
A few days before he took office in January, Scott moved his shares in Solantic Corp., a chain of 32 urgent care centers, to the Frances Annette Scott Revocable Trust. Scott co-founded Solantic in 2001 and was involved in its operation until last year. His wife's trust now holds enough stock in the private company to control it.
By transferring the Solantic shares to his wife's trust, which is represented on the Solantic board by one of his former business associates, Scott maintains he is free from any possible conflicts.
"As I've told you, I'm not involved in that company," he said this week when asked why he didn't sell his shares.
Tomorrow he will decare war on puppies and kittens.