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A further self-jab to not abuse Rick Wilson's name again: Rick Scott tries to rewrite history on $1.7 billion Medicare fraud controversy

By Max Greenwood Updated May 09, 2024 6:20 PM

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Joshua Karp, a Democratic consultant with a long history of working on campaigns in Florida, said that Scott’s remarks play into Republican sympathies for Trump, who’s facing dozens of criminal charges across multiple jurisdictions. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last month found that nearly four out of five Republican voters agreed with the notion that the charges against Trump are politically motivated.

“His playbook isn’t message consistency,” Karp said. “His playbook is: say what you need to say in the moment to score the win.”

Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who’s running in the Democratic primary to challenge Scott for his Senate seat in November, accused Scott of sucking up to Trump, comparing him to “a fan waiting for a selfie” with the former president.

“Maybe someone should remind Scott that rather than sitting in New York trying to suck up to a defendant found liable for sexual abuse, he should be at work focusing on lowering costs, securing our border, and protecting democracy,” Mucarsel-Powell said in a statement to the Miami Herald.

A spokesperson for Scott’s campaign declined to comment on this story, and referred the Herald to the senator’s remarks during his Thursday press conference in New York.

Scott’s corporate legacy

Unlike Trump, Scott was never charged with a crime. Yet the legacy of his leadership at Columbia/HCA has stuck with him throughout his political career and provided fodder for his opponents — not that it has ever hurt him.

He served as chairman and CEO of the hospital company until 1997, when he resigned under pressure after federal agents made their investigation into fraud at the company public by executing search warrants against hospitals owned or previously owned by Columbia/HCA.

According to federal investigators, the hospital company “systemically defrauded” Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, while paying kickbacks to its physicians.

Scott denied any wrongdoing, and accused the Clinton administration of seeking political revenge because of his opposition to a healthcare reform proposal dubbed by critics as “Hillarycare” after then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. By 2003, the company agreed to pay $1.7 billion in what was then the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history.

Scott’s resignation from the company was also lucrative. He walked away with $10 million severance pay, a five-year consulting contract and $300 million in stock and options. He’s now the wealthiest member of the U.S. Senate and has poured tens of millions of dollars of his personal fortune into his political campaigns over the years.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article288431251.html#storylink=cpy