Florida, home of cannibals, elections recounts, and voter disenfranchisement, also elected as Governor the founder of a for-profit hospital chain that defrauded Medicaid of $1.7 billion. So it should come as no surprise that America's Wang has yet to implement any portion of the Affordable Care Act passed 2.5 years ago. 

Most of Obamacare goes into effect in 2014, but some provisions have already been implemented, including the patients' bill of rights, allowing children to stay on parents' health care plans, ending rescission, 50% discount on name-brand prescription drugs through Medicare, underwritten preventative care, and tax credits for small businesses to expand benefits.

Not in Florida, though: the state has refused all federal funds to enact the law's provisions, under the theory that the ACA will eventually be declared unconsitutional. PoliticFact has a rundown of missing services:

Scott's administration has turned away grants applied for under Gov. Charlie Crist, such as $2 million for Medicare outreach, $500,000 for an elder affairs counseling and assistance program, $1 million to help consumers monitor health care premiums in the state and $1 million to plan a health care exchange, according to the Governor's Office. Then it turned away larger sums, such as the first installment of more than $30 million to help keep disabled seniors out of nursing homes. Just how much has it turned away? The Governor's Office doesn't keep a tally, spokesman Lane Wright said.

So because Scott thinks one day the law will be struck down, he's decided the sick and elderly in his state can go without all of those services. (Fortunately, the sick and elderly are not a big Florida demographic.) Scott said at the time that the law was not "the law of the land," though it was under court challenge, which doesn't change the legal status of the law, as the Florida Appellate Court told Scott at the time.

On a phone conference Wednesday, however, Governor Gulf-Shrimp said his state would enforce the law, with a couple of qualifiers: "We'll comply with all the issues when we know it is going to be the law of the land," Scott told reporters. "We’ll comply with the law, if it’s declared constitutional and it doesn’t get repealed."

Something tells me you could build a baseball stadium in the time between when (/if) SCOTUS upholds the law and when it "doesn't get repealed," which means Scott could very well go on blocking funds until the end of his term. As we've learned lately, not even a lawsuit from the Department of Justice can compel Governor Gulf Shrimp to comply with federal law if he sees an advantage in disobeying it.

Some balls, right? Stick it the man, etc. One problem: a lot of the funds Scott has been refusing are meant to build toward an insurance exchange that goes into effect in 2014. What happens if Scott has to comply with the insurance exchange portion of the law, but hasn't been building up the funds necessary to pay for it? Again, via Politifact:

Post editorial writer Rhonda Swan commented that the state has rejected millions in federal grants designed to help the state prepare. So, she asked, how would the governor pay for implementation?

"It's my job, if it's the law of the country, to be ready when it's the law," Scott said. "... When it's the law of the land, we'll implement the law."

"Where will you find the money?" Swan asked.

"It'll be part of our budget," Scott said.

Swan continued to press, finally asking: "Why not take the money that the federal government is offering now so you can be prepared?"

"Because it's not the law of the land," Scott said. "I don't believe it'll ever become the law of the land."

In short, if SCOTUS upholds the law, Florida's screwed. Perhaps they can raise the money by selling Tenth Amendment gator dolls or something.

---

Follow on Ology: Evan McMurry |  PoliticOlogy

Follow on Twitter: @evanmcmurry  |  @OlogyPolitics

Comments (0)

ALSO IN...

PoliticOlogy