This Sunday, the front group Conservatives for Patients’ Rights will be airing a 30-minute documentary with “horror stories” aimed at chipping away public support for reforming our health care system. Ironically, the leader and financier of the organization, private health care executive Rick Scott, is actually credited with transforming the American health care system into the profit above-all-else culture that is currently plaguing America.
Rick Scott is not only known for his efforts to build the “McDonald’s” of the health care industry, but his company was also forced to pay a $1.7 billion fraud settlement, the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history, for systematically stealing from taxpayers.
ThinkProgress has compiled a video report detailing who Rick Scott is, and what type of health care system he is defending. Watch it:
For his anti-health reform film, Rick Scott has hired former CNN reporter Gene Randall to interview patients and warn of a “government takeover” of the American health care system. Of course, no one is proposing a “government takeover” — rather President Obama and Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) have said health reform will mean introducing a public plan option that Americans can opt into if they do not currently have health insurance or they are not satisfied with their private insurance plan.
Randall, after his employment at CNN, started his own private media firm that has produced publicity content for private health insurance companies and similarly made a documentary for Chevron to defend the company for dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the rainforest in Ecuador. As the New York Times has noted, Randall is hired by corporations to add a “journalistic” feel to the films he produces for his corporate clients.
Indeed, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights has also hired the same PR company that managed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth smear campaign against John Kerry to direct its attacks on President Obama’s health care proposals.
Thanks for asking, TP. Rick Scott is a corporate felon who believes health care should be subject to the ups and downs of the market.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:13 amThe silver lining to this is it will be aired immediately after Meet the Press. I don’t think anyone watches MTP since David “mrs rove” Gregory took over.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:15 amSounds like the perfect republican frontman regarding the issue of health care. Whats next, resurrecting Adolph Hitler and promoting him as a man of peace and love?
May 29th, 2009 at 11:16 amSeriously, are these people this stupid?
May 29th, 2009 at 11:17 amHCA is pretty much the Liberty University of health care anyway.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:19 amOur country already has a number of safety functions which are government owned and operated, such as the military, fire departments, and police departments. We could choose to have these functions in and subject to the free market by having them provided by private enterprise. Somewhere along the line we have decided not to do that.
Why is it so difficult to imagine our health care safety function being similarly government owned and operated rather than provided by private enterprise? (”Corporate agenda” is already assumed as an answer – any others?)
May 29th, 2009 at 11:20 amAnyone that advocates for less than a universal healthcare system is working for the pharma/insurance conglomerate.
We already have a template, several in fact, for what works and what does not. At #37, the US system falls safely into the ‘not‘ column. Fighting the advancement of what does work is what industries and religious organizations have done for hundreds of years.
For-profit healthcare is an unqulaified abomination, but what do we in America expect? After all, we’re still trying to figure out whether torture is a bad thing….
May 29th, 2009 at 11:21 amWe should take this as a serious fight, because it’s going to be a brutal one. The For-progit pigs aren’t going to allow this to happen, no matter how much lip service they pay to the President in public, if they can help it. They’d sooner waste their money on a battle than allow it to go to sick people – they are that sick.
A major network needs to run ‘SiCKO’ over and over again.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:22 amThe Cons think that just because they can find three people to complain about British health care, and then three more to complain about Canadian health care that it some how over-rides that 200 million Americans are complaining about our broken health insurance system…. Ridiculous.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:26 amMore fear mongering from the right wing.
They know how gullible and fearful their base is
I’m sure O$ and CFP will be along shortly to prove it
May 29th, 2009 at 11:30 amWhat a scumbag. And he thinks by getting a haircut that people won’t recognize him as that Rick Scott?
May 29th, 2009 at 11:30 amHi unbelievable. According to this account by SEIU, the doctors are hardly complaining about universal health care. They’re wildly taken out of context.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:31 am
PatrioticLiberalChristianMantisReligiosa Says:
Why is it so difficult to imagine our health care safety function being similarly government owned and operated rather than provided by private enterprise? (”Corporate agenda” is already assumed as an answer – any others?)
May 29th, 2009 at 11:35 am“““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““
The republican goal is and always has been to mismanage government programs so that they fail miserably so then they can cry for “Privatization” and tell us how good everything would be if it were all privatized. “Corporate agenda” yes, very much so!
This is a many layered malodorous onion. While CPR’s remains a tax free vehicle to spread disinformation, local nonprofit community hospitals could soon be taxed. Employer sponsored health insurance is high on the list for taxation.
Despite the stark contrast being drawn, the Obama plan utilizes the same horrific management practices as Rick Scott did at Columbia/HCA. Rick incentivized hospital staff and doctors to bring home the bacon, thus the widespread fraudulent billing.
Rick Scott used the same “practical” pay for performance, incentives and bonuses. They distort.
Behind the curtain, Max Baucus sucks up to for-profit health care. President Obama’s favored private equity has a big stake in corporate health care. Rick Scott is symbolic of their corporate sponsors. So why the theater?
Is it like TARP restrictions, ones that no longer apply in the FDIC’s sale of BankUnited to Blackstone and The Carlyle Group, despite $4.9 billion in government subsidy?
What’s the behind the curtain workaround for health care reform? Publicly financed health insurance (contracted to private insurers)?
Watch the details. Rick Scott is a magician taking your attention away from something far more sinister.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:35 amYou can ask your local affiliates not to air the infomercial:
http://action.seiu.org/page/s/StopScott
May 29th, 2009 at 11:37 amspring heeled jack Says:
What a scumbag. And he thinks by getting a haircut that people won’t recognize him as that Rick Scott?
““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`
I recognized right away by the two horns on his head… :)
Whats that old saying? You can cut all the hair off of a wild dog but it is still a wild dog.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:38 amIt appears the position Rick Scott is taking is “there’s still money to be made from this broken system before the whole ship sinks — so stay the course!”
And in order to stay the course, Scott has to find a boogeyman to scare the American people. A public health plan option isn’t scary enough, so a scarier monster has to be created. Scott is going to battle the dreaded “Soviet-style socialist medicine” boogeyman for all it’s worth, hoping that people will believe his imaginary monster is real. Are people stupid enough to fall for the lie? Scott doesn’t need all Americans to be that stupid — just enough of them. And that’s what he’s banking on.
Naturally, Scott’s propaganda machine won’t be the only lie factory on this issue. I expect to see a great deal of fearmongering over this. President Obama is already marshalling the network that got him elected to fight back on this, but we need an even bigger marketing blitz than that. We need people to convince their congresspersons that this issue is important enough to them that it will affect the way they vote.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:40 amThe profit motive has no place in the provision of medical services. Period. This basic concept must be amplified.
The profit system is intrinsically incompatible with patient-serving medical care. While there a few non-injurious ways to increase medical system profits there are far too many that reduce the quality of care.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:44 amI still don’t get how my health care should be controlled by a system that was invented to compensate shippers for losses incurred due to storms and pirates.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:45 amRick Scott’s Solantic is owned by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. Bush Medicare Chief Tom Scully is a General Partner with WCAS and sits on Solantic’s board.
Nancy-Ann Deparle, the White House Health Czar, worked seven years for a firm like WCAS. She invested in for-profit health care companies for CCMP Capital Partners. Both WCAS and CCMP are private equity underwriters (PEU’s). Nancy-Ann sat on over seven for-profit boards, with her 2008 board pay over $530,000. She has stock options in Cerner Corp, a health care IT company. They vest later this year and run until 2016.
No single payer advocate testified before the Senate Finance Committee. Government advisers like Gail Wilensky and Uwe Reinhardt stand to make huge money from their stock holdings in health insurers and other health care corporations.
Rick Scott’s 30 minute program and the Progressive video above are diversions. Don’t watch the cookie jar!
May 29th, 2009 at 11:47 amHi McWars!
No doubt that they will mis-represent – it’s the only game they have left. LOL
I think you can probably find three people out of millions who will complain about anything – including free ice cream sundaes, puppies, full-body massages, etc. There are always people who will complain about anything. And they aren’t that hard to find.
The problem to me is that the Cons are basing their entire opinion of a public health care plan on the complaints of three or four people, rather than the rave reviews of millions (because – really – if the UK and Canada hated their health care systems that much, they’d have abandoned them by now).
May 29th, 2009 at 11:47 amAs for the SEIU, President Andy Stern said years ago, employer sponsored health care is dead and not coming back.
I want someone else watching out for my interests than Andy Stern.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:49 amExcellent post, Missmolly. I just don’t see how the public is going to buy this any more, even if they’re tempted to believe it’s true. Rick Scott and others, I believe, are insane to believe that they can simply pick up where they left off when the average American doesn’t have to look far to see that the costs and inefficiencies of U.S. health care are crippling our society. With the explosion of the older demographic, improving health care is a no-brainer.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:51 ammisscoleopteramolly Says:
And in order to stay the course, Scott has to find a boogeyman to scare the American people. A public health plan option isn’t scary enough, so a scarier monster has to be created. Scott is going to battle the dreaded “Soviet-style socialist medicine” boogeyman for all it’s worth, hoping that people will believe his imaginary monster is real.
If I wasn’t paying through the nose for my woeful COBRA insurance, and had NO insurance at all, I’d welcome a Soviet style health plan. How good or bad a proposed system is depends on what your healthcare status quo is.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:53 amI agree with others here who say that Rick Scott should be wearing prison orange for the rest of his natural life.
He possess all the humanity of a genocidal tin-pot despot. He’s truly a cockroach but he surely would like that comparison if it means he’s a grotesque obscenely RICH cockroach.
In prison he should be forced to see the faces of the most vulnerable in our society that he refused health care to or rewarded his evil minions with huge bonuses for cutting patients off Cobra.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:54 amI’d rather see a full-on gov’t takeover of health care than continue with or modify the current for-profit system. No system will be perfect, but other gov’t run programs such as fire, police, trash and water service seem to work fairly well. Some people talk as if they have never had to wait at the dr office or wait at the hospital. You can use UPS or DHL or USPS, why would choice suddenly vanish? You can hire a private investigator if you don’t like local police servvice. What is the difference for care?
May 29th, 2009 at 12:00 pmCorporate Healthcare FAILED! We need Universal Healthcare so all citizens can have the coverage they deserve. Scrue Rick Scott and all the thugs connected to their attempt to kill this action. I need coverage, cannot get coverage no matter how much money I want to pay. Everyone should be able to go the the doctor when necessary and it should not be contingent on corporate greed.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:02 pm“government takeover”
I love that meme. Now lets see what it might mean.
Right now if the for profit insurance company is doing something that you don’t like (deny claims, try to screw you, raising rates) you have no recourse but to take it or change insurance companies (which if employer supplied is about impossible). So you have no choice or freedom to change things.
Under a single payor government system, if that situation happens: You can vote thiose bastards out and try to install someone that will be more responsive to th eneeds of the patients.
Which one would you feel more empowered by?
May 29th, 2009 at 12:02 pmMegaloptera McWars Says:
Rick Scott, and others, I believe, are insane to believe that they can simply pick up where they left off when the average American doesn’t have to look far to see that the costs and inefficiencies of U.S. health care are crippling our society.
I believe you are correct. The system has gotten so much worse since the last time America had a health care reform dialogue that I don’t believe too many folks are going to fall for the whole “government will ruin health care” line. After all, even Republicans get sick.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:03 pmPeople are and always will be ill or injured.
And by standards of modern medicine, everyone has some illness or disease. And, more importantly, everyone is in “need” of some form of medication (even if its “just” perk-me-up pills).
For-profit healthcare cannot be excused or justified by ANY measure except “capitalism”: which is to say, greed and the bottom line are the only excuses to have for-profit health care. The more people that are medicated, the more money the industry makes — thus it is in the industry’s profit-interest to medicate as many people as possible, for as long as possible. It is also in the industry’s profit-interest to perform as many tests and procedures as possible, which leads to many unnecessary procedures. Actual “cures” are NOT in the interest of the industry’s profits (if you can cure cancer, you can’t make money off of 100 year old lrgely ineffective methods of treatment). Any cure or remedy that is easily obtainable is not profitable, and therefore dangerous to the industry’s profits (thus, those who present such items are ridiculed, some jailed, and some run out of the country. There is at least one state (I can’t recall, but could look it up later) that you can be convicted of malpractice or practicing without a licence when using non-orthodox methods even if they have scientifically demonstratable and successful results. Now how medieval church barbaric is that?)
There is no moral justification for, and plently of moral justification against, for-profit health care.
Strange, in the extreme, that the “moral majority” crowd tend to be staunch supporters of the profit model. Though I guess that none of them ever got the whole point of the camel and the eye of a needle thing.
If one’s wealth is dependent solely upon people being sick and diseased, then one cannot claim to possess any morals whatsoever.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:04 pmAbsolutely, unb. Unanimous approval is impossible. What we are looking for are overwhelming positive results.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:04 pmOutstanding ~ After all, all Republicans are sick.
Hope you don’t mind the editing…
May 29th, 2009 at 12:08 pmI hope this information is getting out somewhere other than Think Progress. If this man is producing horror stories, organizations which advocate health care reform need to do some airwave flooding of their own.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:11 pmRight before former Congressman Billy Tauzin retired from Congress (in the middle of his term) to accept a job as head of BigPharma, he wrote and managed to pass a Medicare bill that specifically prohibited the government from negotiating for lower drug prices. Repeal even just that one provision, and health care costs will begin to drop almost immediately. You can then argue about what to do with the rest of our broken health care system later.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:12 pmAnd the “pre-existing conditions” clause that, as far as I can tell, every insurance agency uses, exclude from coverage those who are in the most need of coverage and medical assistance.
If there’s a hell, it will be crowded. If there’s karma, there’s gonna be a lot of insects in our fututre.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:12 pmAside from the South where they just hate anything Democratic (some are actually refusing to accept that they live in a Democracy because they are that bitter), and anyone without lily white skin, most Americans want this reform.
Poll and poll shows that it’s a pretty strong majority too – like 65%. Now it’s just a matter of putting the pressure on our “Representatives” who won’t need campaign funds if they lose tehir jobs (see Ben Nelson’s recent turn-about).
We just have to remember what we are capable of achieving when we keep our grassroots efforts in motion.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:16 pmI guess we should do what Colbert suggests, Just walk it off. I mean, that’s basically what the Repugs want anyway right?
May 29th, 2009 at 12:17 pmFor any trolls who wish to defend our current health care system as “the best in the world,” I have to ask you something. Do you think it’s “the best” because people make the most money off it? Or do you think it’s “the best” because we have the healthiest citizens on the planet? Which is more important to you?
And in this country, what do we often say to people who have lost all their money? “At least you have your health.” So which is more important – health or wealth?
May 29th, 2009 at 12:18 pmI believe it is immoral for an individual or an entity to profit as a result of another person’s misfortune. Thus it is inherently immoral that for-profit companies/entities to benefit in the area of health care for those who have the misfortune of impaired health.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:25 pmCageyCretin Says:
And the “pre-existing conditions” clause that, as far as I can tell, every insurance agency uses, exclude from coverage those who are in the most need of coverage and medical assistance.
I’m almost two years out of cancer treatment. If my husband gets laid off, I can’t buy health insurance at any price.
RUCeriousMaggot! Says:
I don’t mind the editing, I like yours better.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:27 pmThe American public is slowly waking up to the fact that the haves got what they have by peddling fear. For decades, they kept it pretty low key but the past couple years it has been getting more frantic and blatant while the evidence that their fear mongering is a lie becomes more evident.
The fact they are digging out the buzz words of the 50’s, socialism, communism, government takeover, racism says they are running on empty. There is just too much information, readily available, for them to make it stick.
This program is just one more piece of evidence indicating how terrified they are. Their boogiemen just aren’t anywhere near as scary as what the average person on the street is facing daily.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:28 pmRUCeriousMaggot! Says:
I still don’t get how my health care should be controlled by a system that was invented to compensate shippers for losses incurred due to storms and pirates.
That one is simple. The pirates realized there was more money in the protection racket with less overhead.
Lower cleaning bills as well since the parrots didn’t fit in well with boardrooms.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:31 pmThe aspect that is lost on conservatives, (among many, many others) is that they need people to make money.
People need healthcare to be productive.
The hole in the bucket is that in America, when an individual is down, (by accident, disaster, act of God, etc.) by virtue of this lopsided system, he is out. That means he is out regarding health, productivity, taxes, and the ability and expediency to restore his productivity.
This spiraling, self-shedding, nationally-masochistic system is not ‘law of the jungle, survival of the fittest,’ scenario as conservatives are promoting, (this would presume several factors which are not in play,) but sacrificing the greatest potential pool of talent and ambition against random chance.
In short, it’s sheer, short-sighted, terminal stupidity that will cycle down to failure, as is growing apparent.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:37 pmIt also, conveniently, severely restricts the consumer’s ability to choose a different vendor — a critical facet of a healthy capitalistic economic system, if I’m not mistaken.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:37 pmThe whole pre-existing game is like your homeowner insurance saying they cover everything except floods. Or earthquakes.
Sounds like a ‘we will take your money and use it to our benefit but if you ever need it, we get to decide if we will give it back’.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:46 pmNBC should be horribly ashamed of themselves. I guess they did it for the money, presuming this infomercial cost Scott et al. big bucks. But really, when will the news actually act like the 4th Estate, and uncover frauds like this, rather than taking their criminal money. Maybe they could all get a RICO investigation on this. But Republicans get away with it. I see, for example, that the firm with ties to Murtha is being suspended, but KBR/Halliburton with more than ties to Cheney and convictions on fraud, is not…
May 29th, 2009 at 12:49 pmThe health care fight will get much uglier before it ends. The insurance industry has LOTS of money, and Americans can be really stupid — especially when it comes to change or thinking about the misfortunes of others.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:52 pmWait –I thought NBC was “in the tank” for the Dems?
Isn’t that what the trolls keep telling us?
Some librul media.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:54 pmConservatives for Patients’ Rights:
Patients have the right to die – after they pay their enormous medical bills, of course.
May 29th, 2009 at 1:03 pmZooey Says:
The health care fight will get much uglier before it ends. The insurance industry has LOTS of money, and Americans can be really stupid — especially when it comes to change or thinking about the misfortunes of others.
I tend to agree with one small caveat. Most Americans react well when the misfortune is pushed in their face. As in disaster response. If this situation isn’t at the disaster level yet, it will be very soon.
May 29th, 2009 at 1:10 pmHey Rick (the dick)Scott, why won’t you come to Canada and go on the air live and and us Canadians what we think about our system????? Random people of the street….try that.
And don’t be offended if someone call you an idiot for thinking Canadians want any part of a insurance based health system.
My grandmother complains when her tea is cold…does that mean she doesn’t like tea????? Why didn’t you ask those canadians how long they have used our system???? and if they like your system better, why wouldn’t they move to the US???? And lastly, what were the incomes of these people????
Whats really funny…you found the Canadians who complained, whereas there are 40million complaining in your country becuase they have no access to your systemm without going into fiancial ruin.
May 29th, 2009 at 1:30 pmOutstanding ~ I’m two years and two months post my lung cancer surgery, and if I lost this job I’d never qualify once my Cobra ran out…
May 29th, 2009 at 1:50 pmFact Check.org……….A group called Conservatives for Patients’ Rights began airing a television ad this week that criticizes government-run health care and falsely suggests Congress wants a British-style system here in the U.S…..The ad states that government-run health care systems, in particular those in Britain and Canada, take control away from patients and ration health care. …..That’s contrary to what President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress have said.
May 29th, 2009 at 1:54 pmHoodathunktick Says:
I tend to agree with one small caveat. Most Americans react well when the misfortune is pushed in their face. As in disaster response. If this situation isn’t at the disaster level yet, it will be very soon.
May 29th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I hope you’re right. Things are beginning to go critical.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:06 pmRick Scott is the Ken Lay of the health care industry.
The For-Profit health care industry, along with the For-Profit Medical Sickness & Injury Insurance industry have been fleecing Americans for years. As costs in the health care industry increase, and there is little to stop the neverending increases, the TEMPORARY Medical Sickness & Injury Insurance industry just add their profit and passes the cost along to the consumer…..YOU!
These two industries are now shuttering in fear that their days are numbered. And well they should.
Put a stake in the hearts of these industries and let them go the way of the “Buggy Whip” industry. They are obsolete.
INVEST in a Universal Single-Payer Health Care system, it lasts a lifetime!
May 29th, 2009 at 3:11 pmMarie Says:
The ad states that government-run health care systems, in particular those in Britain and Canada, take control away from patients and ration health care. …..That’s contrary to what President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress have said.
That’s contrary to what people in Britain and Canada say.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:58 pmI will say as I always do …. I read both sides arguments as an informed citizen should do. I also read the readers posts. I have got to give kudos to those peeps from theleft .. ya’ll sure know how to hate!! Without fail the readers from the left throw out more attack posts than any I have read from the right. Where do I get this “HATE” lesson plan?? The left is constantly calling the right intolerant or stupid or whatever …. Where does this level of hatred come from???
May 29th, 2009 at 5:59 pm#57
Yet another whiny troll, frustrated that its party is so despised by the vast majority of US voters.
But you keep right on reaching for the stars lil’ trooper, maybe you’ll make sense eventually.
And why is it that “Govt. run health care” seems to work so well for those elected officials who bash it the most?
Any elected official who votes against a single-payer option should be stripped of their taxpayer-funded “socialized health care”, because if such an option isn’t good enough for their constituents, it’s not good enough for those elected officials receiving it from the taxpayers.
May 29th, 2009 at 7:18 pmI just sent e-mails to my senators and representative.
Just a reminder that at congress.org you can put in your zip code and get contact information for your senators and representative(s). You can also sign up for newsletters so that you can stay in touch with your congresscritters on pertinent issues.
President Obama has said that if a health care plan isn’t passed this year, it won’t happen during his term. I don’t know why this is, but I trust that the man knows what he’s dealing with and doesn’t talk out his butt.
May 29th, 2009 at 7:26 pmgivemelibertyordeath Says:
I will say as I always do …. I read both sides arguments as an informed citizen should do. I also read the readers posts.
You readed good. Giving gold star for reading the readers.
.
givemelibertyordeath Says:
I have got to give kudos to those peeps from theleft .. ya’ll sure know how to hate!!
Responded to this earlier, you loathesome pig scum. Go die in a ditch.
.
givemelibertyordeath Says:
Where does this level of hatred come from???
Mostly republicanshatefacts and EugeneDebs, but I try to do my part as well.
May 29th, 2009 at 9:38 pmPutting lipstick on a a pig and well it`s still Mr.Scott.He is a despicable man who blatantly says he is innocent but paid his $1.7 billion fine for overcharging Medicare and Medicaid.He buys hospitals up by the dozens because of the competition they represent to him and in doing so has made billions and we are made to feel like health care is a privilege and not a right.His lies and deceit are what keeps him afloat, fear mongering is his best tool and we are dead tired of fear mongering, so his twenty something percent base of GOOPers are the ones that will for for this bull$hit and the rest of the country still remembers him for what he really is.
May 30th, 2009 at 9:38 amOn a serious note, I literally cannot understand how people can live like that and not, well, commit suicide. I don’t want anything to happen to Mr. Scott, that’s not what I am saying. I just could not imagine being able to live with myself. I don’t know how people do it.
May 30th, 2009 at 12:33 pmShouldn’t that be;
“Conservatives for the Preservation of Health Care Denial”?
May 30th, 2009 at 12:56 pmThank You
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