The $1.7 billion man
Rick Scott, multi-millionaire lover or Medicare fraud (Photo: open.salon.com)
If you’re wondering who is primarily responsible for organizing the barbaric efforts to sabotage the Democratic town halls across the nation, wonder no longer. The man’s name is Rick Scott, and he is in charge of the Web site Conservatives For Patients Rights. He is a multimillionaire ex-hospital CEO whose company was charged with the largest case of financial fraud committed against the government in United States history.
Yes, the former CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospital system was at the helm during a span of 10 years when his company defrauded Medicare for $1.7 billion dollars. They were found guilty and that amount has been repaid – yet the conservative GOP pick Rick Scott to lead them into battle for responsible medical spending? Payday loans with no faxing and short term loans used responsibly help in a pinch, but I’m talking responsibility on an entirely different level.
Something stinks here, and the people deserve to know
According to various sources, Scott’s company was so brazen that they stamped certain documents with warnings that those documents should not be shown to Medicare auditors!
The practice that appears to have gotten Rick Scott’s company in trouble is something known as “upcoding.” Essentially, hospitals under Rick Scott’s watch were treating patients for minor ailments, then charging the Medicare exorbitant fees for much more serious (imaginary) illnesses. In addition, they reported the costs for things like employee functions, holiday parties, catering and other things unrelated to the expense of treating patients. Knowing this, would you trust Rick Scott to tell you what is or isn’t too expensive when it comes to health care? And the man’s level of honesty! He told CNN’s Rick Sanchez (see video below) that he “had no idea” about upcoding.
Who funds Medicare, by the way?
It’s you! Taxpayers! If you didn’t know before, you know now. Rick Scott was at the helm of a company that stole massive amounts of money from the American people. And he is against Obamacare because he (and likely his buddies in the industry) want to maintain the status quo. Use your brain. If you know there’s going to be a Democratic town hall about healthcare in your area, organize like-minded friends and go there, if for no other reason than to fight back against the mob organized by dishonest multi-millionaires like Rick Scott.
Oh, here’s a little tidbit that you can think of what you will. Scott, a lawyer, was once a co-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball club… with George W. Bush.
Wait, receive bad care and pay handsomely… what’s not to hate?
According to Washington Post coverage, Scott is “using $5 million of his own money and up to $15 million more from supporters” to fund the screaming guerrilla resistance to any government-run program. Yet Scott had no problem working for a company that defrauded Medicare… which is in fact government-run insurance.
What people like Rick Scott and GOP poller Frank Luntz (who produced the 28-page memo that was recently discovered by the mainstream media) do distracts from the real issues on the table, said one senior Democratic staffer to the Post. Supporters of Obama’s plan point out the issues like long waits and shoddy care that the opposition point out are already problems in the U.S. under a private system. However, people also are receiving the benefit of either paying through the nose for care or staying home and developing long-term health problems because they don’t have insurance in the first place.
We deserve better than Rick Scott and his toadies
As if Americans would begin to die on the vine, Scott’s disciples claim that a health care system patterned after those in Canada or Great Britain would invite disaster. However, the Obama plan seeks a uniquely “American solution,” said Sen. Max Baucus to the Post. In all likelihood, this will mean a combination of the public and private system.
Single-payer insurance may be off the table, but that doesn’t mean that a reasonable compromise can’t be reached. However, leaving things mostly as they are now is entirely unreasonable, and Rick Scott should be ashamed for suggesting anything like that, considering his history. $1.7 billion isn’t a drop in the bucket, and upcoding is a serious problem that must be stopped. It’s not a situation where it’s only cheating if a hospital gets caught… it’s stealing money from the American people, people who sometimes need payday loans with no faxing, or short term loans.
If you’re in that situation, you can apply here today.
$1.7 billion dollars??? WOW!!!!
Rick Scott, just one of many people who deserve to die for what they have done to this country
another of the long list of Bush croonies, whos goal is to make the rich richer and make all of us slaves to them
i think rick scott should be investigated for any link to these townhall rioters,and if he is encouraging these rioters to be violent,put him in jail!we need healthcare reform and we have for decades why do we as americans tolerate insurance company domination of the means of access to healthcare and the denials of claims and exclusion of those with preconditions!!??it is rediculous that this goes on here,and that other countries have single payer systems that the people in those countries would never trade for ours!also for example when some canadians come here for treatment,their government even pays for that.that is something rick scott and his ilk does not want people here to know!!!! don,t take my word for it look it up online,i,ve read blogs from canadians who will attest to this.i have also read many more canadians who are very satisfied with the single payer system they have!