Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) maintained that he would continue to reject implementation of key aspects of President Barack Obama's health care reform law this week, despite the certainty that Obamacare will now remain intact due to the president's reelection.
Scott has been a leading adversary of Obamacare, repeatedly refusing to accept provisions that would expand Medicaid rolls and set up a state-run health insurance exchange. He continued to criticize these programs during an appearance at the New College of Florida on Wednesday.
“No one has been able to show me that that health care exchange is going to do anything rather than raise taxes, raise the cost of our companies to do business,” Scott said, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Scott continued, reportedly taking similar issue with Medicaid expansion over concerns that increased costs would be passed down to taxpayers and business owners.
The governor has taken heat for overstating the supposed negative effects of adopting the health care reform measures, and his basic argument about cost appears to have remained consistent in the wake of the election.
But the costs of opting out of these programs are heavy as well. A Congressional Budget Office report calculated that allowing states such as Florida to opt out of the planned Medicaid expansion could leave some 3 million people uninsured. Scott's resistance to these provisions is also denying the state nearly $500 million of federal money to cover the cost of expanding children's health care.
The Republican has until Nov. 16 to change his mind about the health insurance exchanges. But it doesn't look like Scott is going to make that deadline, WUSF reports, as he's entirely neglected steps to create a blueprint to submit.
Scott's latest resistance comes as Florida voters rejected a symbolic anti-Obamacare ballot measure at the polls on Tuesday, which would have added language to the state constitution denouncing the individual mandate included in the health care reform law. Pushed onto the ballot by Scott and the Republican legislature, 52 percent voted against it, while 48 percent supported it.
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