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Who is Rick Scott?

Posted by: Ella Hushagen on May 04, 2009

Rick Scott, a wealthy entrepreneur and former head of the world's largest hospital chain, has emerged as the most outspoken opponent of health care reform. Proponents of reform couldn't have dreamed up a better villain than Scott, a rich businessman with ties to the health care industry. He founded and bankrolls Conservatives for Patient Rights, a group that claims to speak on behalf of all Americans, but which is really opposed to meaningful reform. Most recently, CPR launched a controversial ad campaign.

Scott's legacy as the hospital tycoon that built the Columbia/HCA hospital chain is tainted by the fraud scandal that led to his resignation. As the New York Times reports,

Mr. Scott was ousted by his own board of directors in 1997 amid the nation's biggest health care fraud scandal. The company's guilty plea and payment of $1.7 billion to settle charges including the overbilling of state and federal health programs was taken as a repudiation of Mr. Scott's relentless bottom-line approach.

Scott's tenure at Columbia/HCA before the fraud investigation further damages the credibility of his attacks on health reform and comparative effectiveness research. While he now cautions Americans that the government wants to ration their care (presumably beyond the rationing we already see with eroding coverage and high levels of uninsured), the Wonkroom reports that under Scott's leadership, Columbia/HCA hospitals were squeezed for profits to the detriment of patients.

Scott's Conservatives for Patient Rights has hired the PR firm famous for its Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads. They'll need the best spin doctors in town to spread fabrications like those contained in Scott's letter published in The Hill recently.

Scott is working overtime to undermine health reform legislation that has yet to be written, while putting nothing on the table for Americans struggling with ever increasing health care costs. The guiding principles Scott proposes-"choice, competition, accountability and personal responsibility"-sound an awful lot like the White House's principles.

According to the New York Times, even some of Scott's allies are distancing themselves, saying that he is "counterproductive to their efforts for compromise."

Rick Scott is trying to tear down health reform before it gains more momentum; advocates for change cannot let his big money ad buys distract from the goal of comprehensive health care reform. SEIU has called on CNN and FOX News to refuse to air CPR ads, which are "grossly misleading." Sign the SEIU petition to ask the networks to stop airing the less than truthful ads or write a letter to the editor supporting universal health coverage instead of Scott's calls for more of the same.