A couple weeks ago, I did a post on Rick Scott, the face of a right wing group fighting health care reform. I linked to an excellent piece, "Healthcare Enemy No. 1" in The Nation by Chris Hayes, which exposed Scott's shady background noting:
Having Scott lead the charge against healthcare reform is like tapping Bernie Madoff to campaign against tighter securities regulation. You see, the for-profit hospital chain Scott helped found--the one he ran and built his entire reputation on--was discovered to be in the habit of defrauding the government out of hundreds of millions of dollars.Scott has made himself, with his own money, the leading spokesperson opposing health care reform. He wants things to stay the same. Today, Scott gets front page treatment from the New York Times. Seems even his supposed allies are worried about Scott taking a lead role:
Some former allies are more hostile toward Mr. Scott, painting him as counterproductive to their efforts for compromise.The leader of the health care reform campaign thinks Scott is actually the perfect spokesperson:
“I just don’t understand why he would be a messenger people would listen to,” said Charles N. Kahn III, who was a senior executive with the insurance industry group that ran the “Harry & Louise” advertisements credited with helping to kill the Clinton plan 15 years ago but who is working for a deal now. “I don’t think people are waiting to hear from him.”
Mr. Kahn, a Republican, is now the head of the Federation of American Hospitals, a private-hospitals group.
“He’s a great symbol from our point of view,” said Richard J. Kirsch, the national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now. “We cannot have a better first person to attack health care reform than someone who ran a company that ripped off the government of hundreds of millions of dollars.”Says it all. So when you see this guy, don't believe a word he says:
