Rick Scott gaslights voters about the massive Medicare fraud he oversaw
When Rick Scott was first running for statewide office in Florida in 2010, he made a mea culpa ad to blunt attacks from his opponents about the massive Medicare fraud he presided over as CEO of a major health care company. "I'm going to do something the politicians won't: give you the unvarnished truth," Scott told voters in an ad titled "Truth.” Scott admitted the health care company he ran, Columbia/HCA, was fined by the federal government. "I wasn't in charge or even questioned by authorities,” he added. “But that’s not what matters. What matters is that the company made mistakes and, as CEO, I take responsibility and learn from it.” Indeed, mistakes were made—$1.7 billion worth of them, to be exact. It was the largest health care fraud settlement of its kind at the time. But taking personal responsibility was so last decade. Now Scott is reframing that Justice Department investigation as a "political persecution," just like the one Donald Trump is supposedly facing for allegedly falsifying business documents in the ongoing hush money trial. "I'm fed up," Scott told reporters outside the Manhattan courthouse last week. He was one of a steady stream of Republicans who have flocked to Trump's side in New York. "I watched what happened to me and my company. ... I've talked to business people over the years, what's happened to them when you have political persecution." YouTube Video On Fox News, Scott went a step further, painting the FBI probe as retribution for opposing "Hillarycare," a reference to President Bill Clinton's failed effort to reform the health care system in the 1990s. "It happened to me," Scott told the Fox anchors. "I fought Hillarycare. And guess what happened when I fought Hillarycare? [The Justice Department] came after me and attacked me and my company." The whistleblower who served as an FBI informant in the case from the mid-'90s to the early aughts offered a distinctly different view of the government's prosecution. "There is no doubt in my mind that Rick Scott was the leader of a criminal enterprise," John Schilling, a former HCA accountant, said at a 2014 press conference arranged by Scott's rival in the gubernatorial contest, Charlie Crist. "I would not want someone who was a leader of a criminal enterprise leading our government," Schilling added as he made the case for why Scott should not be reelected governor. Former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Scott's likely Democratic challenger this November, has seized on Scott's reversal, firing off a string of tweets on the matter. "You know who's 'fed up,' Rick? The hundreds of thousands of seniors and families you defrauded to make your millions," Mucarsel-Powell tweeted last weekend. "Shady Oligarch Rick Scott stole hundreds of millions of dollars from Medicare then used the money to buy the Governor's Mansion and a Senate seat," she charged in another post. To Mucarsel-Powell's point, Scott set a record on self-funding in 2018, pouring $64 million into his own Senate campaign—more than three-quarters of his total haul for the cycle. Now Scott, who has never won a general election in the state by more than 1.2 points, is trying to rewrite history so he no longer has to answer for the fraud that has dogged him in every campaign he’s ever run. Time will tell whether voters take a sympathetic view of Scott’s so-called persecution in November. But he is happily trading in the "unvarnished truth" for victimhood this cycle—personal responsibility be damned. Campaign Action
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When Rick Scott was first running for statewide office in Florida in 2010, he made a mea culpa ad to blunt attacks from his opponents about the massive Medicare fraud he presided over as CEO of a major health care company.
"I'm going to do something the politicians won't: give you the unvarnished truth," Scott told voters in an ad titled "Truth.”
Scott admitted the health care company he ran, Columbia/HCA, was fined by the federal government.
"I wasn't in charge or even questioned by authorities,” he added. “But that’s not what matters. What matters is that the company made mistakes and, as CEO, I take responsibility and learn from it.”
Indeed, mistakes were made—$1.7 billion worth of them, to be exact. It was the largest health care fraud settlement of its kind at the time.
But taking personal responsibility was so last decade. Now Scott is reframing that Justice Department investigation as a "political persecution," just like the one Donald Trump is supposedly facing for allegedly falsifying business documents in the ongoing hush money trial.
"I'm fed up," Scott told reporters outside the Manhattan courthouse last week. He was one of a steady stream of Republicans who have flocked to Trump's side in New York. "I watched what happened to me and my company. ... I've talked to business people over the years, what's happened to them when you have political persecution."
On Fox News, Scott went a step further, painting the FBI probe as retribution for opposing "Hillarycare," a reference to President Bill Clinton's failed effort to reform the health care system in the 1990s.
"It happened to me," Scott told the Fox anchors. "I fought Hillarycare. And guess what happened when I fought Hillarycare? [The Justice Department] came after me and attacked me and my company."
The whistleblower who served as an FBI informant in the case from the mid-'90s to the early aughts offered a distinctly different view of the government's prosecution.
"There is no doubt in my mind that Rick Scott was the leader of a criminal enterprise," John Schilling, a former HCA accountant, said at a 2014 press conference arranged by Scott's rival in the gubernatorial contest, Charlie Crist. "I would not want someone who was a leader of a criminal enterprise leading our government," Schilling added as he made the case for why Scott should not be reelected governor.
Former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Scott's likely Democratic challenger this November, has seized on Scott's reversal, firing off a string of tweets on the matter.
"You know who's 'fed up,' Rick? The hundreds of thousands of seniors and families you defrauded to make your millions," Mucarsel-Powell tweeted last weekend.
"Shady Oligarch Rick Scott stole hundreds of millions of dollars from Medicare then used the money to buy the Governor's Mansion and a Senate seat," she charged in another post.
To Mucarsel-Powell's point, Scott set a record on self-funding in 2018, pouring $64 million into his own Senate campaign—more than three-quarters of his total haul for the cycle.
Now Scott, who has never won a general election in the state by more than 1.2 points, is trying to rewrite history so he no longer has to answer for the fraud that has dogged him in every campaign he’s ever run.
Time will tell whether voters take a sympathetic view of Scott’s so-called persecution in November. But he is happily trading in the "unvarnished truth" for victimhood this cycle—personal responsibility be damned.
