Across Florida, Healthcare Advocates Slam Rick Scott's Failure To Condemn Pre-Existing Condition Law
June 22, 2018 For Immediate Release Contact: Nate Evans nathan@floridadems.org This week, at events around Florida, elected officials, healthcare professionals, and activists spoke out against Rick Scott's refusal to stand up against "unconscionable" attacks on health coverage for pre-existing conditions. Rick Scott is yet to condemn his own state's lawsuit -- which his good friend Donald Trump also supports -- that would make protections for pre-existing conditions unconstitutional. In Tampa, Congresswoman Kathy Castor said, "We are here to tell Rick Scott to stop his assault on affordable healthcare. We’ve learned in the past two weeks that the Trump administration wants to toss protections for pre-existing conditions out the window. What they couldn’t do through law, they’re doing through the courts. We need to know who is on our side in the fight for high-quality affordable healthcare, and it is clear that Rick Scott is not. Simply put, Scott’s long record of working to dismantle protections for those with pre-existing conditions doesn’t match his new rhetoric.” Also in Tampa, former State Senator Arthenia Joyner stated, "Before Rick Scott ran for public office, he was best known for his massive fraud case, where he over-billed Medicare. But Scott never learned, and never changed. Republicans like Trump and Scott want to give free reign to the insurance companies to reject those with pre-existing conditions. Diabetes, high cholesterol, you name it -- these people will not be able to get affordable coverage if Scott and the Republicans have their way. That is why elections matter.” In Jacksonville, former State Representative Mia Jones said, "Rick Scott's recent talk on pre-existing conditions is nothing but empty rhetoric. When given the opportunity last week, Scott refused time and time again to do anything substantive to stand up to attacks on affordable health coverage for Floridians. Right here in our community over 300,000 residents have preexisting conditions, and the thought of them loosing their coverage is unacceptable. Scott has shown where his loyalties lie. It's clear he'd rather cozy up Trump than advocate for his constituents." In Tallahassee, Dr. Paul Robinson, a local pediatrician said, "I have been a physician for 45 years, and I have seen first hand how not having protections for pre-existing conditions adversely affects the health of our children. While Rick Scott has said things like "we have to award people for caring for themselves", there are children out with chronic conditions that have no power over the condition they have. If we stop allowing children with chronic health problems to get health insurance, people will get less care, people will die at a younger age, and people will suffer. That is unconscionable to me." Also in Tallahassee, Johnette Wahlquist, mother child with Hurler's Syndrome said, "To think that one of the best initiatives of the Affordable Care Act, protections for pre-existing conditions, is in danger of being removed by legal action from our elected officials in Florida is deeply disheartening. It is so sad to think that any child's parents should have to worry about losing their healthcare."
