Gov. Scott calls federal health law a disaster

MIAMI — It sounds like Republican Gov. Rick Scott is reverting back to his old talking points criticizing the federal health law, after he told a Pensacola radio station Wednesday the law is a "disaster." His comments come a month after the state Legislative session ended without expanding Medicaid — a move Scott pushed for.

"The president's health care law is a disaster. It's going to be bad for patients, it's going to be bad for businesses, it's going to be bad for providers. There's nobody that wins in that bill," Scott said during an interview on News Radio 1620.

He urged the federal government to give people the option of buying private insurance and to focus on keeping the cost of health care down. But Scott noticeably glossed over his about-face decision earlier this year to support Medicaid expansion. The governor unsuccessfully urged state lawmakers to accept $51 billion federal dollars to expand health care to more than 1.1 million of the state's poorest residents.

But after Wednesday's comment, it sounds like Scott is ramping up his rhetoric against the Affordable Care Act.

Scott, a former CEO of the HCA hospital chain, entered politics in 2009 running national cable TV commercials criticizing the president's plan. Florida led the way in challenging the ACA in a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Scott also made the rounds on conservative talk shows to express concerns that expanding Medicaid would put a strain on Florida taxpayers.

But the governor's tone was noticeably softer in February when he made national headlines announcing his support for Medicaid expansion, calling it the "compassionate, common sense step forward," and not a "white flag of surrender to government-run health care."

Scott's press officials said Wednesday that the governor has always expressed his disagreement with the law and pointed to comments along those lines in the same February speech.

State Democrats quickly seized on Scott's comments.

"In his confusion, Governor Rick Scott apparently is in dangerous denial of the many benefits that the Affordable Care Act provides for Floridians, for businesses, and for our state's economy," House Democratic Leader Perry Thurston said in a statement.