Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Who Opposes Health Care Reform?

Richard L. Scott is on Hannity tonight talking about his group Conservatives for Patient's Rights that is funding ads "intended to pressure Democrats to enact health care reform based on free market principles."

It's too bad Fox doesn't provide a more complete biography of their guests.

Richard L. Scott was the head of Columbia/HCA, a for-profit hospital chain. Mr. Scott was forced out of that job amidst what turned out to be the nation’s biggest health care fraud case to date. Columbia/HCA reached a plea agreement with the U.S. government to avoid criminal charges and ended up paying more than $1.7 billion to settle.

In the New York Times article Health Critic Brings a Past and a Wallet Jim Rutenberg writes,
“He hopes people don’t Google his name,” said John E. Hartwig, a former deputy inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, one of various state and federal agencies that investigated Columbia/HCA when Mr. Scott was its chief executive."