Rick Scott Making Government Incompetent on Purpose

I wrote about how Gov. Rick Scott signed SB 408. The bill would allow insurance rates to go up by 70 percent. Another wonder thing Scott and the Republican legislature did was to allow insurance companies to raise rates without state approval.

With a number of recent changes in state insurance laws leading to an unusually high number of filings, regulators don't have the ability to go through all the filings quickly enough. In such a circumstance, the law allows regulators to approve rate requests in certain circumstances, and follow-up with a full review later.

Contrary to what Scott wants to believe making government less efficient makes government more costly, not less. Scott campaigned on the claim that regulations were killing job creation. When pressed on what regulations were killing jobs Scott could not give an answer. Scott did manage to freeze food stamps with his anti-regulation frenzy. The result was a lawsuit that the Governor lost.

The rate hikes do not protect consumers. It does provide a financial windfall for insurance companies. Like eliminating early voting hours; Republicans make government incompetent to further crony capitalism.

The order drew criticism from Sean Shaw, a former Florida insurance consumer advocate who now works with a Tampa law firm that handles policyholder claims. He criticized the "use and file" that over the years has gained support in the Republican-led Legislature.

"It's a dangerous day in Florida when the Office of Insurance Regulation turns into the office of blind trust because they lack the resources to independently verify form filings from insurance companies," Shaw said in a statement.

Scott and the Republicans in the legislature want to keep the campaign donations from insurance companies coming in.