Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Medicare Fraud Is Sweetest Crime in South Florida

Palm Beach Tea Party Sounds Alarm on Medicaid Expansion; Rep. Mark Pafford Disputes Its Take

Fire Ant tries to be charitable in assessing the Tea Party. Confused, fearful people in a confusing, frightening age, they're mere pawns in the games of the rich and powerful. But when organized stupidity denies medical care to people in need, stupidity must be called to account. Take the Palm Bea ... More >>

Florida Medicaid Expansion Pretty Much Killed By Senate Panel

On Monday afternoon, a Senate select committee rejected moving forward with an expansion of the Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act, even after Gov. Rick Scott expressed a desire to see it expanded, and even though state hospitals and business wanted to see it expanded and even th ... More >>

Nine Most Important Bills Being Voted on by Florida Legislature

The Florida Legislative sessions got kicked off this week, and since this is Florida, there's no lack of fodder to get super riled up about and make loud angry noises and be an anonymous tough guy in the comments sections of blogs and on Twitter. Lawmakers will look at and vote on about 2,000 bill ... More >>

Florida House Panel Rejects Medicaid Expansion

Even with Gov. Rick Scott reversing course on the good ship SS Teabaggery and supporting the expansion of Medicaid (even though he wanted to control how it would be privatized), his fellow Florida GOPers stayed the course. See also: -Rick Scott Now Supports Medicaid Expansion And by "stayed the co ... More >>

Rick Scott Now Supports Medicaid Expansion

Rick Scott, GOPer champion of Defiance Toward All Things Obummercare was not, would not, could not, wouldn't, under any circumstances, implement Medicaid if he had anything to say about it. He said Medicaid wouldn't do anyone any good and even went so far as to give out botched math to prove his po ... More >>

Rick Scott's Best Political Miscalculations

Staring down the barrel of what's sure to be a brutal campaign to stay in the governor's mansion beyond 2014, Rick Scott is pushing out a variety of campaigns that seem aimed at scoring points with weary voters. On Wednesday Scott announced he's planning to give every public school teacher in Flor ... More >>

State CFO Jeff Atwater Courts Glenn Beck Fans, Rick Scott

It was not as thrilling as, perhaps, the sight of Dick Cheney on trial for war crimes, but Wednesday's meeting of the South Florida chapter of weepoid conspiracy monger Glenn Beck's 9-12 movement was quite the satisfying experience. This is particularly true because it comes under the looming shadow ... More >>

Rick Scott Is Knowingly Using Bad Math to Avoid Implementing Obamacare

Remember when Rick Scott began to soften his stance against Obamacare and said there should be a conversation about it? Yea, scratch that. Scott did the math and well, the numbers just don't add up. So. No Obamacare for you, Florida! Oh. Sure. He still walks around like he's all hey I'd be totall ... More >>

Charlie Crist, With Eye Toward Governor's Race, Embraces ObamaCare (So, For Reals, Forget What He Said Before)

Over several weeks in early 2010, then-Governor Crist unleashed a series of tweets condemning President Obama's prospective health care reform bill. To Crist -- yes, the other Crist -- enacting ObamaCare would only constitute "the beginning." He said "Americans deserve better than this." He launched ... More >>

Tea Party Shows Up to Florida Senate Committee and Vents About Obamacare

Even though a good portion of its candidates were booted out of office in November, and even though Floridians shot down Amendment 1, and even though Obama not only won the election but also won Florida, the Tea Party is still insisting that the government do what it says, because of loud angry reas ... More >>

Rick Scott Is Changing His Mind About Things, Part I: Health Care Overhaul

At first Rick Scott was all, NO HEALTH CARE FOR OUR STATE, EVAR! And then everyone started to hate him because they realized he's a beady-eyed pustule with dumb GOPer agendas and an affinity to eat people's souls (allegedly!). But now, all of a sudden as if by magic and wonderment, Scott is changi ... More >>

Rick Scott Will Still Opt Out of Healthcare, Despite What Voters Said

On Tuesday, Floridians went to the polls and voted against the state GOPer Legislature instilled amendment that would have banned government mandated health insurance requirements. Basically, had the amendment passed, it would have exempt Floridians from the Affordable Care Act. But it failed to p ... More >>

Republicans Already Using Hurricane Sandy as an Excuse in Case Romney Loses

Looks like the GOPers are all ready to go with their postelection TALKING POINT in case their robot Mitt Romney should lose the election. Because the Benghazi SuperSecret Governmental Conspiracy Coverup of the 22nd Century thing hasn't worked and because Romney's supposed momentum has slowed some ... More >>

I-4 Corridor Predicts Florida for Romney

Buying the Vote: Don't Fool Yourself: South Florida's Richest Are Calling the Shots in This Election

Rick Scott's Decision to Opt Out of Medicaid Could Cost Hospitals Billions

Rick Scott's decision to opt out of participating in the expansion of the Medicaid health insurance program in Florida could cost public hospitals billions and billions of dollars. This according to a new study by the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (whom we're sure wil ... More >>

Herald: Obama, Sentinel: Romney, New Times: Romney Lies

Now it's our turn. The Sun-Sentinel this morning endorsed Mitt Romney. Then the Miami Herald threw its support to Barack Obama.We don't endorse candidates. We are just a motley crew of renegades who likes to throw darts at pictures of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Britney Spears. But we believe ... More >>

Barack Obama Hits Up Delray Beach for Post Debate Rally

A day after taking a horse to Mitt Romney (or was it a bayonet?) in the third and final presidential debate, President Obama hit up Delray Beach for a Romnesia party. Barry Barack held his rally at the Delray Beach Tennis Center where he harped on Romney's forgetfulness and flip-floppery in front o ... More >>

Mitt Romney's Voucher Medicare Plan Would Be Costly for Florida, According to Report

According to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a voucher plan for Medicare -- like the one Mittington Romnom RoboRomney and his young ward P90Ryan are proposing -- would cost Florida patients more than $100 million. But since the Mittbot is promising instant jobs to everyone as soon as he ... More >>

Allen West Rips Patrick Murphy for Supporting Same Medicare Cuts He Does

Socialist hunter and conspiracy uncoverer Allen West voted for the Paul Ryan budget cuts that would affect Medicare. He also said those who oppose his backing of  Ryan's plan are totally going to Kamikaze themselves. "I will be supporting the House GOP Budget Plan as authored by my colleague B ... More >>

Mitt Romney "Victory": Palm Beach GOP Not So Fired Up

Watching The Debate in a room full of GOPers with 60 or so televisions tuned to Fox News doesn't foster the idea that anyone other than Mittens won the evening. That opinion is to be expected. (And appears to be the consensus.) But neither does it instill the idea that the Romster decisively flipped ... More >>

Mitt Romney Wins Debate by Way of Lies, Lies, and More Lies

Wake up this morning and the consensus is that Mittington Willard Romnom RoboRomney Mittbot won the first presidential debate over Velvet Thunder Barack. Most pundits on Twitter and your mother agree. Romney was feisty, aggressive, kind of a dick, and on the offense. Meanwhile, Obama was a big ... More >>

How to Speak Republican: Leaked Document Reveals the Secrets of the GOP's Coded Language

Paul Ryan Talks Medicare, Uses Mom As Mascot to Make His Point

Paul Ryan made his campaign stop in Florida this weekend where he introduced his mom to a bunch of old rich retired white people to make his point that he won't take away their Medicare. The spry, enthusiastic 78-year old Betty Ryan Douglas trotted out on stage with her son and was all, I got n ... More >>

Obama Buys $13 Million in Florida TV Time, Romney Citing Florida Woes

We've already the political ads flowing in, but there are about to be a lot more: As part of a huge $77 million ad buy, the reelection campaign of President Barack Obama has allocated about $13.3 million to Florida ads that are set to start running today, according to CNN. His total media spending i ... More >>

House Republicans Agitating for Health-Care-Themed Gov't Shutdown; Florida Reps Love It

If you're wondering what the next ridiculously destructive posturing move House Republicans are going to be embarking upon (other than seeking reelection), it just might be outlined in a letter that they sent to Speaker of the House John Boehner.Details started coming out this week about the letter, ... More >>

Allen West Trots Out Former Soldier for Vapid Campaign Ad (VIDEO)

Robert Delgado was an American soldier. He left behind his pregnant wife to serve under Allen West in Iraq, where Delgado was wounded by fire from an AK-47. He was saved, he says, from body armor West gave to him, and he says it in the latest West campaign ad.This is the latest reason Allen Wes ... More >>

Drinking With Slashpine: Their Semitruths on Inner Darkness, Nu-Metal, and Obamacare

Six Reasons Allen West Is Wrong About the Health Care Law Being Useless

Congressman Allen West, along with anybody else up for election in November, is really ticked off about the Supreme Court upholding the terrible progressive Marxist Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.West, however, is the only one calling it the "Patient Protection Unaffordable Tax Act (PPUT ... More >>

Rep. Ted Deutch to Endorse West Challenger Patrick Murphy

Democratic freshman Rep. Ted Deutsch will endorse Patrick Murphy, the District 18 challenger to Rep. Allen West, at an event tomorrow that a Murphy press release will feature "over 150 seniors from Century Village, Cypress Lakes, and Golden Lakes."West tried to win over the Century Village crowd bac ... More >>

Imagining a Florida Without Medicaid

See also: Rick Scott's stranger-than-fiction smackdown of Obamacare and his defense of that decison.In 2009, at least 2.45 million people in Florida were enrolled in Medicaid, according to data from government agencies. Another estimate pegs the number at more than 3 million. That's over a tenth of ... More >>

Connie Mack, House Republicans Continue Stupid Health-Care Posturing

It's an election year, and something good happened to the incumbent president. You know what that means: The opposition party is about to do a lot of yelling.We're dealing, of course, with the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to knock down Obamacare's individual mandate -- you know, the one that we're a ... More >>

Connie Mack's Dad Cosponsored 1994 Bill Including Individual Mandate

See also Connie Mack Continues Stupid Health Care Posturing. We've seen plenty of posturing already from Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack -- now a candidate for Senate -- about the Affordable Care Act -- even last week, he was slamming his opponent, Bill Nelson, for supporting it.This came into part ... More >>

Obamacare Individual Mandate Upheld; Take That Florida Republicans

A lot has been said about the Supreme Court challenge to "Obamacare," the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. One thing, though, that's gotten lost in the shuffle is that the case is called Health and Human Services v. Florida -- it was filed by Florida's then-attorney general Bill McCollum, ... More >>

Newt Gingrich Says Nobody Cares About the Right to Privacy, Challenges Obama to 21 Hours of Debates

​Newt Gingrich's stump speech at Wings Plus in Coral Springs had a lot of meat to it -- he criticized President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, made fun of the media, and was heckled mercilessly for the first half of the event by a protester who was eventually booted from the parking lot ... More >>

Democrats, in General, Win PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year" for 2011

​The thought that Rep. Paul Ryan and Republicans wanted to "end Medicare" is now as legitimate as using the phrase "death panels" or "government takeover" when referring to Obamacare, thanks to Democrats winning PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year."The "end Medicare" idea apparently started with Rep ... More >>

Rick Scott Predicts "Obamacare" Will Be a Loser in the Supreme Court -- Is He Right?

Illustration by Miche RattoWho needs Husseinobamacare?​Yesterday, Gov. Rick Scott made a visit to the Palm Beach Post editorial board and predicted that the challenge of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act raised by Florida and 25 other states would win in the U.S. Supreme Court.Argumen ... More >>

Obama Says U.S. "Lazy" at Scoring Investments; Rick Scott Thinks He Was Talking About Him

Rick Scott, now responding to blanket statements made by the president.​After President Obama made a comment about the United States being "lazy" about attracting foreign investments for the past couple of decades while he was at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit over the weekend, Gov. ... More >>

Ex-Health Insurance Executive: Rick Scott HMO Debacle Goes Against His "Obamacare" Rhetoric

Illustration by Miche Ratto​Wendell Potter -- a former health care insurance executive who most recently left his post as head of communications for CIGNA -- has been following up on the Pulp's post on Florida's newest HMO policy for state employees and agrees that the decision to allow just one H ... More >>

Nan Rich: Florida Republicans Only Take Federal Funds if it Promotes "Extreme Agenda"

thoughttheater.comThis nice chastity belt is apparently a better investment than preventing child abuse​Florida's Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich isn't too happy today about the state's Republican leadership rejecting $50 million in federal funds to protect people like at-risk kids and senior ci ... More >>

South Florida Tea Party Back to Fax-Bombs, Now Asking John McCain Not to "Piss" on Them

Hey there, Tea Party -- 50 percent chance of rain!​In its second fax-bomb attempt in a matter of weeks, the South Florida Tea Party is asking its supporters to send a prewritten fax to Sen. John McCain of Arizona, requesting that the Maverick not urinate on them.They're apparently not too happy wi ... More >>

Tea Party Outdoes Rick Scott -- Unveils Prewritten Faxes to Send Wasserman Schultz

This is what the future looks like.​Remember how old-school that Gov. Rick Scott was when he asked his supporters to send out prewritten letters about himself to newspapers around the state? Well, he has been outdone by the South Florida Tea Party, which is embracing the height of 1980s telecommun ... More >>

Allen West, Amateur Biologist, Thinks Obama Supporters Are a Threat to Human Evolution

Allen West: Out to save the human race.​Who knew Rep. Allen West practiced biology on the side? At least he's proven he believes in evolution.In West's column on Red County this week, he describes how upset he is with unemployment,  federal debt, and federal spending, as well as how it's all ... More >>

Allen West Interview: Florida Tea Party Favorite Talks About Islam and Donald Trump (Part 2)

​Read the first installment of the Allen West interview here.New Times: Let's talk about the Ryan budget [introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin)], which you supported in the House. [This proposal was passed by the House and at presstime was awaiting a vote in the Senate, although House leader ... More >>

Obama's Birth Certificate & The Unsinkable Donald

​It takes a special kind of person to be smug about conclusive proof of one's idiocy, but Donald Trump has practice. He was smug about the disastrous bankruptcy that resulted from his hubristic overreach; he was smug about refusing to pay unknown millions to European creditors after the real estat ... More >>

Abortion Under Attack In Florida's Legislature

​With all the rhetoric about jobs and a balanced budget, you may not realize the pile of anti-abortion legislation clogging the state government's agenda. But as abortion battles sweep across the country, Florida fights from the front line with 18 abortion bills pending in the state legislature. L ... More >>

Sunday Politics: Q&A With Tea Partier on Health Care

The Tea Party has demonized health-care reform -- or Obamacare, as it calls it -- to the point that the group seems to believe that it alone is going to destroy America. Tea Party signs​They've disrupted Congressional town hall meetings, screamed about sociali ... More >>

Jared Lee Loughner: Patriot?

Just doing what he's told.​When Jared Lee Loughner shot Congresswoman Gabrielle "Gabbie" Giffords through the head and murdered six other people outright, it really was because he was "insane" and "deranged," as Bob Norman put it in his heartfelt open letter to Joyce Kaufman. Loughner's most coher ... More >>

Super Bowl Tax Is Anti-American

Wild Art: Rick Scott's inauguration yesterday (Lisa Macci/Facebook) ​ -- After the post on Sheriff Al Lamberti's taking of liberties with official Super Bowl credentials to get his son into the game, the South Florida Times has come out with a report on a "secret" Super Bowl ... More >>