Rick Scott Wants to Abolish Medicare & VA

Politifact rates Rick Scott's claim that Alex Sink wants to cut Medicare false. As I noted, Sink as Governor would not have the executive power to cut Medicare. Sink made the same point herself.

"That's how he's setting it up. He'll be calling me names for the next nine weeks," she told reporters. "I don't even know where he got that from. Of course I don't want to cut Medicare ….. It's a federal issue."

Medicare is a federal program. The governor of Florida does not have the power to cut a national program.

As CEO of Columbia/HCA, Scott advocated abolishing Medicare and Medicaid. Scott wanted all health care to be privatized. Which would also financially help companies such as Columbia/HCA. The poor and uninsured would be left at the mercy of private health care providers.

"Let us make a profit. So what?" Scott told USA Today in 1994.

The guy is all heart.

Scott also wanted to abolish the Veterans Administration.

"If you look at how the government runs VA hospitals and Medicare and Medicaid, you can see that the whole system is inefficient," Scott told the South Florida Business Journal the same year. "The things we are doing wrong in health care can be corrected if private business could run national health care administration."

Rachel Mayo of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society found that the VA provides "the best value in health care."

Another key to the VHA’s turnaround was its close tracking of performance measurements. Providing higher quality care was a major focus for the system as changes were implemented. This started with a reengineering effort beginning in 1995, which was focused on making quality management more systematic. The VHA began with a determined effort to create a product that had the best value in the market. Management defined several quality dimensions to focus on during reengineering:

• Personnel/human resources – hire and keep the top prospects available
• Clinical care activities – perform the clinical activities which are necessary for good health
• Performance indicators – establish and keep track of important indicators
• Internal review and improvement – involve all groups across organization in improvement
• External review and oversight – get an outside opinion of progress

Scott's companies Columbia/HCA and Solantic have been accused of Medicare fraud. Scott has forfeited his right to be taken seriously as a voice on health care issues. The fact that Scott is accusing Sink of cutting the same Medicare system he wishes to destroy is laughable.