Governor Gollum just can't stop himself from kicking the state of Florida in the balls.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed two historic Medicaid bills Thursday, placing the health care of nearly 3 million Florida residents into the hands of for-profit companies and hospital networks.
Lawmakers said the program was overwhelming the state budget and needed to be privatized to rein in costs and improve patient care. Critics fear the bills build on a flawed five-county experiment where patients struggled to access specialists and doctors complained the treatments they prescribed were frequently denied.
State Sen. Joe Negron, who spearheaded the overhaul, said leaders have learned from the pilot program's shortcomings and it now includes increased oversight and more stringent penalties, including fining providers up to $500,000 if they drop out. The measures also increase doctors' reimbursement rates and limits malpractice lawsuits for Medicaid patients in hopes of increasing doctor participation in the program.
I'm not sure how increasing reimbursement rates and shielding doctors from malpractice lawsuits is going to "rein in costs and improve patient care," so I guess Rick Scott knows something the rest of us don't.
Actually, he does know something the rest of us don't. He knows how to commit mass fraud and still get elected as Governor.
Governor Rick Scott is the Democrats #1 campaigner.