Senator Rick Scott thinks that people who won’t work are choosing against having health care.
The Florida Republican made the outrageous statement in an interview on Fox and Friends Monday morning, responding to Charles Hurt’s leading question about “one of the sticking points” of the GOP’s budget bill being “about paying able-bodied 30-year-old men without dependents welfare with no work requirement.”
“Why do some of your colleagues have a problem with that?” Hurt asked Scott. The Florida senator then responded with his pronouncement.
“If you don’t want to work, you’re the one that decided you don’t want health care. That’s number one. Number two: Medicaid is supposed to be for children that don’t have health care and people with chronic illness,” Scott said.
Rick Scott: “If you don’t want to work, you’re the one who decided you don’t want health care. That’s number one.” pic.twitter.com/eO89aKU64i
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 19, 2025
Scott’s perception of Medicaid is horrible. It fails to take into account people whose illnesses prevent them from working, those whose jobs don’t offer health insurance, or those who want to work but can’t get jobs for multiple reasons, such as serving as a caregiver or having a criminal record.
And aside from that, Scott’s own background betrays his massive hypocrisy. Before he entered politics, Scott was the head of Columbia/HCA, one of the country’s biggest for-profit hospital chains, which was found responsible for the largest Medicare and Medicaid fraud case in the country’s history, receiving $1.7 billion in fines. The company “systemically defrauded” federal health care programs while paying kickbacks to its physicians.
Scott knows quite well that the real waste and fraud in health care is companies like his own, which made him one of the wealthiest people in Congress. He has has never faced consequences for his role in the fraud, serving as Florida’s governor and later a senator. Perhaps, though, he should keep his mouth shut when it comes to attacking people who depend on the government health care service.
The post Rick Scott, Massive Medicare Scammer, Defends Work Requirements appeared first on New Republic.
