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Rick Scott is a multimillionaire former hospital CEO who, in 2009, emerged as a prominent leader of the opposition to U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plans. Scott founded a group called Conservatives for Patients' Rights and put $5 million of his own money towards a television advertising campaign aimed at trying to build resistance to any proposal for a government-run health insurance program. Scott's ad campaign is being coordinated by CRC Public Relations, the group that masterminded the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" attacks against 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry. In the ads, Scott argues that whatever effort Obama likely puts forth to change the health-care system, it will put the country on a slippery slope toward a bureaucratic, British-style national health service.

Contents 1 Fighting healthcare reform 2 Fraud controversy 3 Attempting to coordinate other anti-health care reform groups against the "public option" 4 SourceWatch resources 5 External resources 6 References

Fighting healthcare reform

According to the Politico news site, Scott has raised $20 million to fight health care reform.^[1]

Fraud controversy

Maggie Mahar at the Century Foundation's Health Beat blog has written about Scott in her book, Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Healthcare Costs So Much. She reports that Scott previously started a for-profit hospital chain in 1987 that later became the $23 billion Columbia/HCA. He was ousted from this post in 1997 after:

the FBI swooped down on HCA hospitals in five states. Within weeks, three executives were indicted on charges of Medicare fraud, and the board had ousted Scott.

The investigation revealed that the hospital chain had been bilking Medicare while simultaneously handing over kickbacks and perks to physicians who steered patients to its hospitals. ... The company did not fight the charges. In 2000, HCA (which by then had expunged “Columbia” from its name) pleaded guilty to no fewer than 14 felonies. Over the next two years, it would pay a total of $1.7 billion in criminal and civil fines.^[2]

In 1997, Scott was forced out as head of the Columbia/HCA healthcare company as the result of a fraud investigation conducted against the company in the 1990s. The firm eventually pleaded guilty to charges that it overbilled state and federal health plans, and paid the government a record $1.7 billion in fines. Scott argues that he was never charged with any crime and that other health-care companies have also received fines for overbilling. However, court records show that the illegal activities during his tenure as chief executive officer were so extensive that he knew or should have known about them. One of the government complaints alleges that he was actively involved in kickback schemes in which doctors were illegally given large incentives for making referrals.^{[3] [4]}

Scott was also once a partner in the Texas Rangers sports team with George W. Bush.^{[citation needed]} He now runs an investment firm and owns a chain of walk-in urgent-care clinics in Florida called Solantic, which serves people who would benefit from having a "public option" for health insurance.^[5]

Scott believes that free market principles are the solution to the U.S. health care problems.^[6][7]

Attempting to coordinate other anti-health care reform groups against the "public option"

In October 2009, CNN obtained a memo in which Conservatives for Patients Rights leader Rick Scott urged opponents of reform to "synchronize their strategies" before attacking. Scott said CPR planned to remain focused on defeating the so-called "public option," a publicly-funded health insurance plan that would be affordable. He suggested to the other anti-reform groups that they each choose to focus their fire on "a single specific facet of each plan," like individual and employer mandates, "massive tax increases" or "deep cuts in Medicare."^[8]

SourceWatch resources

• Conservatives for Patients Rights
• Wendell Potter

External resources

• Joe Flower Rick Scott and the Columbia/HCA Healthcare System: Icon of Greed or Prophet of True Reform? Healthcare Forum Journal, March-April 1995, Vol. 38 #2
• Stephen Barrett, MD A Skeptical Look at Rick Sott and His Conservatives for Patients' Rights Propaganda Machine. Insurance Reform Watch, August 14, 2009.

References

1. ↑ Jonathan Martin (March 3, 2009). "Group launches health care offensive", Politico.com. 
2. ↑ Maggie Mahar (March 3, 2009). "Who Is Richard Scott -- and Why Is He Saying These Things about Health Care Reform?", Health Beat. 
3. ↑ url = http://www.casewatch.org/doj/hca/schilling.pdf
4. ↑ url = http://www.casewatch.org/doj/hca/thompson.pdf
5. ↑ Zachary Roth Health-Reform Foe Runs Firm Serving Patients Who Would Benefit From Public Option TPM Muckraker, September 30, 2009
6. ↑ Dan Eggen, Washington Post Ex-Hospital CEO Battles Reform Effort: Ads Cite Long Waits In Canada and Britain May 11, 2009
7. ↑ Jeff Woods Health Care Enemy No. 1: Rick Scott Leads Fight Against Obama Reforms The Nashville Scene (blog), May 11, 2009
8. ↑ Pete Hamby Health care critic advises 'divide and conquer' strategy CNN Political Ticker. October 19, 2009