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WHAT THEY’RE READING: Florida Democrats, Senior Advocates Call Out Rick Scott’s Plan to End Medicare
Yesterday, on the 59th anniversary of Medicare being signed into law, Florida leaders and senior advocates called out Rick Scott’s signature plan to end Medicare and Social Security as we know them – jeopardizing the health care of more than 5 million Floridians.
See below for a roundup of coverage:
Florida Politics: Florida Democrats whack Rick Scott on anniversary of Medicare
- “I’m so grateful that we can still celebrate this landmark improvement in our lives,” said Wasserman Schultz, Democratic Co-Chair of Florida’s congressional delegation. “But you know who will never get an invite to this party? Sen. Rick Scott.”
- “Another six years with Rick Scott in the Senate would be absolutely devastating for Floridians struggling to afford health care — especially our seniors,” Fried said. “Florida has the largest proportion of seniors of any state in the country, yet Rick Scott wants to rip away seniors’ health care and throw their lives into chaos.”
- “Before Medicare was enacted, 56% of American seniors had no health insurance. … More than 1 in 4 seniors went without medical care altogether,” said Max Richtman, President of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. “This Fall, Florida’s voters have a chance to send a message to Rick Scott: We are not going back to those days. Out of all 100 Senators, Rick Scott has perhaps the most egregious record when it comes to Medicare.”
- “Medicare ensures that seniors like me can get the health care they need without fearing they’ll go bankrupt,” said Rose LaChapelle, Sarasota County Democratic Senior Caucus President. “It’s unconscionable to think that a politician who represents the state with the largest senior population would want to take that away. It’s baffling that Rick Scott has continuously attacked a program so important to the livelihoods of the very people he was elected to represent.”
Florida Phoenix: On Medicare’s 59th birthday, FL-Dems again hit Rick Scott on the issue
- It originally called for ending all federal programs after five years unless Congress voted to reauthorize them, including Social Security and Medicare.
- “Maya Angelou said it best: When people show you who they are, you should believe them the first time,” said South Florida U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “He has engaged in a never-ending ceaseless attack on Medicare, and you only have to look at Project 2025, which is the blueprint for another Trump term, to know exactly where the Republicans are headed on this.”
- Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried also referenced Scott’s comments on a podcast during the Republican National Convention that he’d like the federal budget to be reduced “to be half its size,” which some economists noted would inevitably undermine Medicare and Social Security.
- “Last week alone, Rick Scott put out a new proposal to slash the federal budget, and every economist across the entire country has said that there is no way to do that without touching Medicare and Social Security. That is an impossibility,” Fried said.
WCTV Tallahassee: Many Floridians worried about Medicare’s future
- “Before Medicare was enacted, 56 percent of Americans had no health insurance,” National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare president Max Richtman said.
- During a virtual news conference celebrating the anniversary of Medicare, Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried criticized Senator Rick Scott’s proposals about the program’s future. “Florida has the largest proportion of seniors of any state in the country. Yet Rick Scott wants to rip away senior’s health care,” Fried said.