Paying for Health Care

Medicare Fraud Is Sweetest Crime in South Florida

Medicaid Expansion Bill "NegronCare" Passes in Florida Senate

House Bill 7169, the Florida Senate's alternate legislation to provide 1 million Floridians with needed health coverage, was approved by the Senate on a 38-1 vote. The measure is expected to head back the House, where it was already rejected and probably will be again.

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 >>

Rick Scott and Rick Perry Brought Their Comedy Show to Palm Beach

Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Texas Gov. Rick Perry brought their zany comedy-duo routine to the Palm Beach Strategic Forum at the Palm Beach County Convention Center on Monday when they both took the stage at the same time. It was like Lex Luthor and Montogmery Burns together in one room! The Ricks s ... 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 >>

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 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Romney Volunteer Tells Florida Elderly That Muslim Obama Will Get Rid of Medicare

With the election a mere weeks away and the polls tightening ever so much, campaign workers and volunteers are burning the midnight oil to get their man a November victory. They're knocking on doors, registering folks to vote, and making phone calls to educate the masses on the qualities of their c ... More >>

Ryan, Obama, Romney, and Biden's Moms: Too Many Matriarchs in the Race (VIDEO)

Preparing for the vice presidential debate Thursday in Kentucky, Paul Ryan was in Fort Lauderdale yesterday with his mom, Betty Douglas. Indeed, the 78-year-old made the campaign's nine millionth campaign fundraising call. Well, I am sick and tired of moms in this election. Just a few months ag ... More >>

Poll: Floridians Not Down With Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan

See also: Paul Ryan Talks Medicare, Uses Mom As Mascot to Make His Point He trotted out his mom like Sebastian the Ibis last week in front of thousands of retirees to tell them his Medicare plan is going to be a good thing, and that President Obama's plan will turn you over to a panel of bureaucrat ... More >>

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 >>

Paul Ryan Isn't Helping Mitt in Florida, Hasn't Actually Run the Numbers on Budget Plan

See also:Paul Ryan Stays Away as Mitt Romney Hits Florida This Week; Paul Ryan Will Talk About Medicare When He Does Eventually Come to Florida A Republican-Democratic run poll done in a dozen battleground states found that Paul Ryan gave Mitt Romney a slight bump everywhere but Florida. T ... More >>

Paul Ryan Will Talk About Medicare When He Does Eventually Come to Florida

See also:Paul Ryan Stays Away as Mitt Romney Hits Florida This WeekWhen Mitt Romney hit Florida earlier this week, his running mate, Paul Ryan, went to Iowa instead. The Romney campaign insisted that they just wanted to spread the wealth (haha -- see what we did there?) and get things cranking with ... More >>

Paul Ryan Stays Away as Mitt Romney Hits Florida This Week

Mitt Romney is hitting Florida starting tonight for a fundraiser being hosted by his car-dealership-owning friends. It's all part of his swing-state bus tour in which Mitt plans to make stops in St. Augustine and Miami and being interviewed by Spanish-language radio station Radio Mambi. Mitt cancele ... More >>

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 >>

Rick Scott: Expanding Medicaid Is "Not Going to Be Good for Anybody"

Gov. Rick Scott was a guest on CNBC's Squawk Box program this morning, answering questions about everything from Mitt Romney to Florida's unemployment rate. The most interesting discussion, however, occurred when he was asked by the hosts about his announcement that Florida was not going to comply w ... 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'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 >>

South Florida at Center of National Medicare Fraud Crackdown

The Department of Justice this week announced a nationwide crackdown on Medicare fraud that snagged 107 people for an alleged $452 million in false billing. The Department of Health and Human Services reported it was the largest group of false billings targeted at one time in the history of their Me ... 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 >>

Florida Ranks Very High in Economic Study; Unfortunately, It's About People Being Poor

​A study from the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy says Florida ranks third, fourth, and fifth out of the 50 states in three different economic indicators.Unfortunately, those indicators are the highest rates of residents without health insurance, the largest percentage of children un ... More >>

How to Fake Your Own Death, Courtesy of Former Pot Runner John Darrell Boyd

Courtesy of John Darrell BoydBoyd in his heyday.​A promo shows a young bearded guy pulling up to the edge of the Everglades and shooting the windows of his station wagon -- from the inside."He wants the crime scene to convince investigators that he was killed in a hail of bullets," says the voice- ... 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 >>

Allen West on NPR: Do We Really Need the Justice Department?

How important is the Justice Department, really?​Yesterday, NPR host Robert Siegel interviewed U.S. Rep. Allen West about the federal debt fight. West, a member of the House Tea Party caucus, is adamantly opposed to raising the debt limit. He doesn't want the U.S. government to borrow any more mon ... More >>

Palm Beach County Tea Party Director Quits After Chairman Rags on Rep. Paul Ryan

​Standing up for what you believe in apparently isn't in the South Florida Tea Party manifest.Pam Wohlschlegel -- the director of the Palm Beach County chapter of the South Florida Tea Party -- called it quits after Chairman Everett Wilkinson declared House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare ... More >>

Allen West Stumped for Losing Candidate in Tight New York House Race

Allen West supported the Medicare plan that's now under fire.​Yesterday, Democrat Kathy Hochul won a closely watched special congressional election in a heavily Republican district in western New York. Why should Sunshine State voters care? Democrats are spinning Hochul's upset victory as evidence ... 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 >>

Universal Health Care: The Greatest Moral Issue of Our Time

The Republican Party tries to pretend it has a monopoly on morality, but it's so drenched in sin right now that it ought to be able to feel the hellfire licking its feet. Fort Lauderdale Tea Party leader Gabriel Carrera plays dress-up as a minuteman.​The rotten Tea Party has in its hysteri ... More >>

Ilene Lieberman Is Back in the Building!

Lieberman is second from left ​Ilene Lieberman, after months of no-shows and call-ins to Broward County Commission meetings, has finally returned to public service. She's on the dais now -- after fellow Commissioner Chip LaMarca made it an issue last week and m ... 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 >>

Rick Scott's Plan: Blame the Unemployed, Cut Drug Oversight, and Other Goodies

​You can't say the guy's not trying. Florida's favorite baldheaded former fraudster, Governor-elect Rick Scott, has been tossing off bits of a new economic plan. Not surprisingly, most of his talking points involve limiting government involvement and letting us little guys pull like mad on our boo ... More >>

Tea Party Lawyer Marianne Moran Campaigns for Power to Repeal Federal Laws

Moran at a Tea Party protest against Charlie Crist's U.S. Sugar "bailout."​Marianne Moran is a lawyer in West Palm Beach and a member of Tea Party in Action and Balance Our Budget Now. Through her work on the Florida Senate, she met Randy Barnett, a Georgetown law professor who is credited with de ... More >>

Whose Dole Is It, Anyway?

Rick Scott Appears to Clinch Governor's Race, Gets Green Light to Abuse State (Updated)

​If your ex-con boyfriend slaps you around when you ask why he emptied out your bank account and then you take him back, everyone knows you've given him permission to rob and hurt you again. That's the message voters gave Republican Rick Scott yesterday when they elected a man to the governor's ma ... More >>

The American Medical Association Wants to Tax Your Pizza

​This, according to a post today on Worstpizza.com.The AMA recently published an article that calls for a "fat tax" to be levied on pizza, soda, and other supposed junk foods. The flat 18 percent tax would, according to the article, deter people from eating high-calorie, low-nutrition foods like p ... More >>

George LeMieux Talking Points Get Mangled on Cable News Show

Is there anyone out there besides George LeMieux and his fellow Republicans in Congress who think that this health care issue hasn't been debated to death? To someone who was appointed to the U.S. Senate this past fall, it may seem like health care reform has sneaked up on Congress, but it's been p ... More >>

LeMieux's First Bill: Health-Care Fraud Prevention (in Lieu of Health-Care Coverage?)

We can all agree with what Florida's new senator, George LeMieux, says above, that this health-care fraud thing should stop. And he makes it sound so easy!But if you watch the longer version of that speech above, you'll see that LeMieux's debut piece of legislation is part of a larger, grander Repu ... More >>

New-Age Benefits

Disloyalty Is Job One

Bob Horvath was the ultimate company man for GM and sold their cars for 40 years. The thanks he got? The auto giant put him out of business.

A Handicapped Service

Complaints from the mobility-challenged against the AAA Wheelchair Wagon Service are numerous. The company's stance? What's the problem?

Cutting the Healing

The emotional triage performed by therapists for the severely disabled is being eliminated by budget cutbacks

Waste-Case Scenario

While negotiating a $21 million contract with Broward County, Unisys swept a $100 million health-insurance mess right under the rug.