While the Supreme Court’s healthcare decision was a win for the people of Florida, Gov. Rick Scott’s hyper partisan reaction to the ruling is earning him bad ink across the state. The Governor’s obstinate response is jeopardizing affordable healthcare for millions of Floridians and shows, yet again, that all Scott really cares about is “putting politics above people in need.”
And by the way, do the people of Florida really trust the Madoff of Medicare with the future of our state’s healthcare? Coverage below:
Gov. Scott putting politics above people in need [Tampa Bay Times column] “It doesn’t matter how many millions of Floridians are without health insurance. It doesn’t matter how high your insurance premiums climb. It doesn’t matter that emergency rooms have been turned into standing-room-only free clinics. Rick Scott still knows best…Rick Scott is so danged smart, he is willing to play with people’s lives. He is telling Florida’s most desperate citizens that he’s not going to expand health insurance through Medicaid even though the federal government is paying almost entirely for the plan…And so it looks like he doesn’t give a damn about people in need. He has offered no credible alternative to the health care reform law, and says he will turn down the federal government’s offer to provide health insurance.”
The law of the land [Miami Herald editorial] “Gov. Scott should read the handwriting on the wall. The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. It’s far better for the state to set up its own exchange than to allow the feds to do it. Ultimately, the expansion will have a cost, but for the first three years the federal government would pick up 100 percent of the additional outlays. Expanding Medicaid to the working poor is a matter of fairness.”
Time for Scott, Bondi to stop stalling [Tampa Bay Times editorial] “..Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi, having lost the legal fight, were less than graceful in defeat Thursday. Florida already is far behind other states in moving to set up state insurance exchanges. Scott also has rejected millions of dollars in federal dollars flowing from the law, risking the health of Floridians to make a political point. It is time for the governor to stop stalling, recognize the authority of Congress and the Supreme Court, and carry out the law that will benefit millions of Floridians….”
The court has now ruled on health care; Florida needs to move on [Orlando Sentinel editorial] “Now that the court has ruled, it’s time for Gov. Scott to act…Besides not working to set up the exchanges called for in the law, Gov. Scott has rejected millions of federal dollars in a state that clearly needs assistance. A Florida Health Care Insurance Advisory Board report found that enrollment in health insurance has dropped for the fifth straight year, from 4.5 million in 2006 to 3.7 million in 2010. The governor will not do himself, nor Florida’s citizenry, any favors by blocking efforts to implement the law”
Supreme Court decision bad for Scott [Sarasota Herald Tribune] “Scott didn’t just lose his political gamble that the reforms would be
declared unconstitutional. Now he has a major public policy problem: Implementing a law after rejecting millions of dollars in federal aid aimed at helping Florida and other states get started”
High court delivers blow to Florida Republican leaders [Palm Beach Post] “The U.S. Supreme Court upheld key provisions of the 2010 federal health care overhaul Thursday, dealing a major defeat to Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Republican leaders”
Advocates call on Gov. Scott to implement Affordable Care Act [First Coast News] “Over the past year-and-a-half, Gov. Rick Scott has turned away more than $100 million in federal cash intended to help Florida start implementing the health care law…Dr. Louis St. Petery of the Florida Pediatric Society says now Florida must play catch-up to meet the requirements of the law. He says more children on Medicaid stand to benefit from the Affordable Care Act because it mandates higher Medicaid reimbursements rates for doctors.”
Affordable Care Act: Time To Heal [Lakeland Ledger editorial] “Unfortunately, some very sore losers want to refight the battle…The court decision was a clear victory for Obama and a clear defeat for top Florida Republicans, who opposed the Affordable Care Act and made the state the lead plaintiff in the case. They lost, but the people of Florida — about 4 million of whom are without health insurance — might yet win as reforms are fully implemented.
Loser of the week: Rick Scott [Tampa Bay Times] “Florida’s governor…doesn’t seem to be taking losing easily. Only hours after telling reporters Friday that he was still studying how to respond to the Supreme Court decision, he went on Fox News to say he will not support implementing the law. This comes on the heels of him implying something different during a conference call organized by conservative groups. “If it’s declared constitutional and doesn’t get repealed, then we’ll comply with the law. … We’ll deal with all the issues we have to deal with when we know that it’s going to be the law of the land,” he said June 20.”
PolitiFact: Health care law is not the largest tax increase ever [Tampa Bay Times] “Limbaugh’s inflated rhetoric takes a wrong claim and puts it into the realm of the ridiculous. We rate it Pants on Fire.”