Sarasota News Leader

11/16/2012

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OPINION FLORIDA'S MORTIFICATION Is there nothing that Gov. Rick Scott will not do to humiliate the people of Florida? Even before he was elected governor, he was op- posed to the Affordable Care Act. After his election, he justified his hostility toward the act's requirements on the grounds that it would be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court as unconstitutional. Then, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court upheld almost everything contained in the act (striking down only the penalty against states that did not voluntarily agree to expand their Medicaid programs). Guess what? Scott thumbed his nose at the highest court in the land as he continued to ignore the law. His reasoning? That Barack Obama would be defeated by Mitt Romney in the presidential election, and the law would be repealed. Then, on Nov. 6, voters gave President Obama a 3 million vote margin of victory (and a 61 percent majority in Electoral College votes). Even John Boehner, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, began to refer to the Affordable Care Act as "the law of the land." Guess what (again)? Scott thumbed his nose at almost everyone in the legitimate political firmament by declaring that he still would not do anything to implement any part of what he termed Obamacare, including the expansion of Medicaid in Florida and the establishment of federally mandated insurance exchanges to allow citizens to purchase competitively priced insurance.

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