Trump’s slapdash effort to own health care reform will be led by Rick Scott, the ex-CEO of a company once fined $1.7 billion for defrauding Medicare.
Former Florida Governor Rick Scott became Florida Senator Rick Scott after a highly contested election in which both he and Donald Trump flung out unsubstantiated accusations of voter fraud in liberal-leaning Broward County and elsewhere; Broward County staff had to call for police protection from protesters shouting “Lock her up!” and “Stop the steal!” during the recount; and the Florida Department of State--overseen by a Rick Scott appointee--rejected Broward County’s recount because the results were due by 3:00 pm, and although the county started uploading them at 2:45 p.m., the upload did not complete until 3:02 p.m. So, y’know, a typically fair Florida election.
Before going into politics, Scott was the CEO of Columbia/HCA, a company that, under his direction, owned more than 340 hospitals, 135 surgery centers, and 550 home-health locations. While Scott was CEO, the company defrauded Medicare and Medicaid on a massive scale. For example:
Columbia billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs for tests that were not necessary or ordered by physicians;
The company attached false diagnosis codes to patient records to increase reimbursement to the hospitals;
The company illegally claimed non-reimbursable marketing and advertising costs as community education; and
Columbia billed the government for home health-care visits for patients who did not qualify to receive them.
In 1997, federal agents announced an investigation into Columbia’s massive fraud. Scott resigned four months later. The company ultimately pleaded guilty to 14 corporate felonies, and entered into “the largest government fraud settlement in U.S. history when Columbia/HCA agreed to pay $840 million in criminal fines and civil damages and penalties.”
With that background, of course Scott is Trump’s perfect choice to “lead the [Republican] party’s push on health-care reform.”
