Beautiful: 14 Felonies Later, Gov Rick Scott Wants Taxpayers to Fund His Clinics

[boutons_deux]

Scott transferred 62 million dollars in Solantic stock (a chain of healthcare clinics) to a revocable trust in his wife’s name after he got elected. Now he’s passing a bill that will hugely benefit Solantic. He calls this privatization, which might ring a bell for you since Republicans have been singing its high praises ever since they discovered government contracts (i.e., socialized profits for their private companies, aka, welfare for the wealthy). Basically, your tax dollars will soon be going directly to Rick Scott’s wife’s bank account if his bill passes.

In the 1990’s, Scott headed Columbia/HCA Healthcare, the largest for-profit hospital in America. Under Scott’s leadership, Columbia/HCA committed major Medicare fraud. They had to pay the government 2 billion dollars in settlement fees and interest, which made it the largest fraud case in history. The company was found guilty of systematically over-billing the taxpayer for services. Scott was forced to resign just before the judgment came down and Dr. Thomas Frist Jr., brother of U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was brought in to replace him as chairman and CEO. Feel better yet?

Forbes reported that HCA “increased Medicare billings by exaggerating the seriousness of the illnesses they were treating. It also granted doctors partnerships in company hospitals as a kickback for the doctors referring patients to HCA. In addition, it gave doctors ‘loans’ that were never expected to be paid back, free rent, free office furniture, and free drugs from hospital pharmacies.”

Rick’s stewardship in one of the FBI’s highest priority white-collar crimes brought fraud not just to Florida, but also Texas, Georgia and Tennessee, in case you were feeling left out. This is what Rick Scott calls the competitive “free market.” And they wonder why we need regulators and we wonder why they don’t want them. Not to worry, though, Scott was paid $9.88 million in a settlement for being forced to resign as CEO, and he also left owning 10 million shares of stock worth over $350 million.

http://www.politicususa.com/en/rick-scott-taxpayers-clinics

[Winehole23]

Dirty pols in Florida? Shocking.

[boutons_deux]

Does Rick Scott's Drug-Testing Policy Violate the 4th Amendment?


Last week, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed off on an executive order that requires that many state employees and job applicants submit to mandatory drug tests. He's also pushing state legislators to pass a bill that would subject welfare recipients to drug testing as well. But legal experts warn that Scott's heavy-handed measures may be unconstitutional. The Miami Herald reports:

[F]ederal courts generally have ruled that such policies violate the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches, say attorneys and legal scholars.

"You can’t do blanket tests like that. They’re facially unconstitutional," said Ephraim Hess, a Davie attorney who prevailed over the City of Hollywood in April 2000 when U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp ruled that governments cannot require prospective employees to take drug tests unless there is a "special need," such as safety.

Another federal court supported the ACLU in 2004, ruling that Florida had violated the Fourth Amendment by ordering random drug testing of all the agency's employees. The ACLU now says that it's prepared to represent any state employee who wants to challenge Scott's new policy:

"The state of Florida cannot force people to surrender their constitutional rights in order to work for the state. Absent any evidence of illegal drug use, or assigned a safety-sensitive job, people have a right to be left alone,"" said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. Simon said the ACLU would represent any state employee who would like to challenge the policy.

There's one stakeholder, though, that could benefit from the governor's new drug-testing push. As I reported last week, Scott's own company, Solantic, conducts drug-testing for employers and employees alike and stands to profit from this proposal—among many others.

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/03/does-rick-scotts-drug-testing-policy-violate-4th-amendment

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I wonder is Scott knew his wife's Solantic does drug testing?