Scott still wants GOP to repeal Obamacare
He issues call amid health bill’s failure
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott, whose political career is largely defined by opposition to the Affordable Care Act, still wants Republicans to repeal the federal health care law despite their apparent failure to do so.
“Floridians simply cannot afford the high taxes and mandates of Obamacare. This law needs to be repealed,” Scott spokeswoman Kerri Wyland said in an emailed statement.
The statement appears at odds with President Donald Trump’s solution, to “let Obamacare fail,” in light of the Senate GOP’s inability to pass its own health care bill, dubbed the Better Care Reconciliation Act. When insurers leave the health plan exchanges set up by the law, Democrats will come to Republicans looking to help fix the law, Trump told reporters Tuesday in Washington.
Scott first entered the national political scene as one of the staunchest critics of a bill that would later become Obamacare, setting up Conservatives for Patients Rights, a group dedicated to killing the bill.
“Many in Congress are realizing a government-run health care plan is a bad idea. It’s time to drop the public option plan and get on with real reform,” Scott said in a CPR ad amid the Obamacare debate in 2009-2010.
After Obamacare passed in March 2010, Scott rode a wave of Tea Party anger and frustration over the law and other issues to win the governor’s race that year.
In office, Scott bashed the law as unworkable and unaffordable. But in 2013, he came out in favor of accepting federal funds for Medicaid expansion for three years. And he reversed his position on Medicaid expansion after winning re-election in 2014.
Since November, Scott has written four op-eds stressing the urgency of repealing Obamacare.
“There is absolutely no question that Obamacare must be repealed immediately so Americans can actually afford to purchase health insurance,” Scott wrote.
Joshua Karp, spokesman for American Bridge PAC, a Democratic-supporting political committee, responded, “Whether it’s Trumpcare or repealing the Affordable Care Act without a replacement, Rick Scott is stuck with a cruel plan to take away health care from millions — like gum stuck to a shoe.”
Even so, the failure of the Senate bill could help Scott politically. He is widely expected to run for U.S. Senate in 2018 against incumbent Bill Nelson, D-Melbourne, who has consistently opposed Republican repeal efforts.
Trump said because four Republican senators refused to vote for the replacement bill and the GOP only has a 52-46 advantage over Democrats (there are two independents), he needs more Republican reinforcements in Congress.
“We’re going to have to go out and get more Republicans elected in ’18, and I’ll be working very hard for that to happen,” Trump said. “It would be very nice to have Democratic support, but really they’re obstructionists, they have no ideas, they have no thought process. All they want to do is obstruct government and obstruct, period.”