FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: MIAMI HERALD – 'RICK SCOTT TRIES TO REWRITE HISTORY ON $1.7 BILLION MEDICARE FRAUD CONTROVERSY'

TALLAHASSEE, Florida, May 11 -- The Florida Democratic Party issued the following news on May 10, 2024:

Yesterday, Rick Scott skipped a vote in the Senate so he could kiss up to Donald Trump and remind everyone how we oversaw the largest Medicare Fraud in history. In response to Scott's bogus claims of "political persecution," the Miami Herald reminded Floridians that Scott, in his words, "took responsibility" for his company defrauding Medicare recipients and military families.

Click here to read the article. See key excerpts below:

Miami Herald: Rick Scott tries to rewrite history on $1.7 billion Medicare fraud controversy

- But U.S. Sen. Rick Scott went out of his way, quite literally, on Thursday to attend former President Donald Trump's hush-money trial in Manhattan and remind Americans that he once ran a healthcare company that was slapped with the largest Medicare fraud fine in U.S. history.

- In a press conference outside the courthouse in Manhattan where Trump is on trial, Scott compared the criminal charges against Trump to the federal Medicare and Medicaid fraud investigation that resulted in $1.7 billion in fines against Columbia/HCA, the healthcare company that helped make Scott the United States' wealthiest U.S. senator.

- But in comparing himself to Trump, Scott -- who is seeking reelection to the Senate this November -- is also trying to rewrite history. Scott himself acknowledged years ago that his company had "made mistakes."

- "I was in charge and even questioned by authorities. But that's not what matters," Scott said in a 2010 campaign ad. "What matters is that the company made mistakes and as CEO I take responsibility and learn from it."

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

- In 2010, during his first run for Florida governor, Scott sought to head off questions about his corporate record by saying that he took responsibility for issues at Columbia/HCA, even though he insisted that he was not aware of any wrongdoing at the time.

- Scott made a similar claim in 2018, when he first sought his U.S. Senate seat, cutting an ad saying he "took responsibility" for what happened at the hospital company and claiming that it was the mark of a leader.

* * *

Original text and links presented by source here: https://www.floridadems.org/2024/05/10/13531/