Washington DC — At the Senate debate in Miami last night, Florida Governor Rick Scott joined his fellow Republicans and flat-out lied to voters about his record on health care. Scott’s shameful effort to re-write history continued as he explained his stance on universal health care coverage, stating that “we have to make sure that anybody can get health care insurance.” Let’s be clear, Rick Scott has no plans to protect millions of Floridians health care — his record speaks for itself.
Here’s the truth:
Rick Scott helped design Republican repeal efforts that would have jeopardized access to care for up to 7.8 million Floridians.
- HEADLINE: “Florida’s Rick Scott Says He’s Helping Trump Craft Replacement Health Care Plan.” [McClatchy, 1/18/17]
- Rick Scott Was An Advisor To The Trump Administration On Plans To Repeal The ACA. “ Kicking off a series of meetings with incoming Trump administration officials, Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday he hopes to help them devise a less costly alternative to Obamacare. Scott said he’s talking with Donald Trump every week or two while working closely with Rep. Tom Price, the president-elect’s choice to run the government agency that oversees Medicaid, Medicare and the landmark 2010 health-insurance law.” [McClatchy, 1/18/17]
- Rick Scott Continued To Push For Repeal Even After It Failed In The Senate. “Gov. Rick Scott, whose political career is largely defined by opposition to the Affordable Care Act, still wants Republicans to repeal the federal health care law despite their apparent failure to do so. ‘Floridians simply cannot afford the high taxes and mandates of Obamacare. This law needs to be repealed,’ Scott spokeswoman Kerri Wyland said in an emailed statement. […] Since November, Scott has written four op-eds stressing the urgency of repealing Obamacare. ‘There is absolutely no question that Obamacare must be repealed immediately so Americans can actually afford to purchase health insurance,’ Scott wrote.” [Orlando Sentinel, 7/18/17]
What would full repeal of the Affordable Care Act get eliminate?
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- Protections for 7,810,300 with pre-existing conditions, if they buy coverage on their own
- Improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs
- Allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26
- Ban on annual and lifetime limits
- Ban on insurance discrimination against women
- Limit on out-of-pocket costs
- Medicaid expansion currently covering 15 million people
- Rules to hold insurance companies accountable
- Small business tax credits
- Marketplace tax credits and coverage for up to 1.4 million Floridians.
For years Rick Scott and the Republican majority in the Florida legislature have refused to expand Medicaid to cover more than 700,000 Floridians.
2018: Rick Scott’s Administration Submitted A Request To Cut Amount Of Time Floridians Have To Apply For Medicaid Coverage From 90 Days To 30 Days. In April, Scott’s administration submitted a request to trim the amount of time Floridians have to sign up for Medicaid coverage from 90 days to 30 days. The state estimated this change would impact almost 39,000 Floridians, but providers warned it could exceed even more.
2015: In A Victory For Rick Scott, The Florida House Rejected Medicaid Expansion For the Third Time. In June 2015, the Florida House rejected a plan 72-41 that would have covered as many as 650,000 residents. It was the third time that legislators had considered and spurned some version of health care expansion since passage of the Affordable Care Act. It represented a victory for Gov. Rick Scott who opposed the bill, which had already passed the state Senate on a 33-3 vote. The Florida Health Insurance Affordability Exchange would have used more than $18 billion over 10 years in federal funds to expand the pool of low-income Floridians eligible for health insurance and help them buy it from private providers.
- 2013: Both Houses Rejected Rick Scott’s Plan To Expand Medicaid. Governor Rick Scott’s plan to expand Medicaid coverage failed to make it out of a key state legislative committees. The Senate Select Committee on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act voted 7-4 to reject the expansion, with all of the committee’s Republican members voting against the plan. A House legislative committee also rejected the expansion.
- 2017: The State Senate Rejected Medicaid Expansion On A Voice Vote. During Senate began debate on the budget in 2017, Senate Democratic Leader Oscar Braynon took to the floor and offered up an amendment to expand Medicaid. On a voice vote, the Senate voted to kill Braynon’s amendment.
Rick Scott says coverage for pre-existing conditions should be based on rewarding “people for caring for themselves”
Rick Scott On Care For People With Pre-existing Conditions: “We’ve Got To Reward People For Caring For Themselves.” “‘I believe that if you have a pre-existing condition, you need to still be able to get health care, so it’s very important to me,’ Scott told reporters in Tallahassee. ‘I think everybody ought to be able to get health care insurance. I do believe that you’ve got to start working to fix the law and that law caused our premiums to skyrocket. But I don’t believe in grand bargains, I believe in incrementally trying to make change. We’ve got a lot more competition … We’ve got to reward people for caring for themselves.’” [Tampa Bay Times, 6/13/18]
Rick Scott’s callous comments could leave millions of Floridians with conditions ranging from diabetes to cancer without a way to obtain affordable coverage.
7,810,300 Floridians Live With A Pre-Existing Condition. About one in two Floridians, 51 percent, lives with a pre-existing condition. [CAP, 4/5/17]
Before The Affordable Care Act, Insurance Companies Maintained Lists Of So-Called Deniable Medical Conditions. If someone had one or more ‘deniable’ conditions, they were automatically denied coverage. Common ‘deniable’ conditions included:
- Pregnancy, alcohol or drug abuse with recent treatment, dementia, arthritis, cancer, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, hemophilia, hepatitis, diabetes, paralysis, severe obesity, sleep apnea, AIDS/HIV, kidney disease, multiple sclerosis, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, pending surgery or hospitalization, and muscular dystrophy. [Kaiser Family Foundation, December 2016]