Politics

Rick Scott Urges Anti-Health Care Front Groups to Coordinate Their Attacks

By Anne Landman

Multimillionaire former hospital CEO Rick Scott, founder of the anti-health care reform group Conservatives for Patients Rights, last week distributed a memo to allied groups fighting health insurance reform to try and coordinate the groups' opposition to the so-called "public option." In the memo, Scott wrote that health care reform bills now emerging from the house and senate will be "target-rich environments" but he urged the groups to synchronize their strategies in attacking the bills. He wrote that the goal is to develop a "divide and conquer" strategy. He praised the groups so far for their success in delaying reform, saying, "It's now approaching Halloween, and nothing has passed either house of Congress." Organizations opposing health care reform include Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party Patriots, the National Taxpayers Union, the Heritage Foundation and the National Center for Policy Analysis. Scott, who was ousted as head of the Columbia/HCA healthcare firm in 1997 after a fraud investigation, now owns Solantic, a chain of low-income, walk-in medical clinics in Florida that serve the same population that would benefit from a "public option."

Full post as published by PR Watch on October 23, 2009 (boomark / email).