And You Expected ?
McClatchy reports on another Scott outrage: Florida governor’s plan to ax pill database alarms police
MIAMI — Florida Gov. Rick Scott wants to eliminate a computer system aimed at curbing the illegal sale of prescription drugs at storefront pain clinics, a move that alarmed narcotics investigators, drug-treatment advocates and some lawmakers.
Just two years ago, state legislators approved the creation of a prescription drug monitoring program that would allow doctors to review the drug purchases of their patients, to prevent patients from seeking narcotics from multiple doctors — a practice known as “doctor shopping.”
The Legislature approved the measure in response to an explosion of storefront pain clinics across South Florida, making the region the main supplier of black-market pills across Appalachia and the East Coast.
Now the governor wants to erase the database before it even gets off the ground. A proposed bill included in the budget package the governor unveiled on Monday would eliminate the database — even though it won’t be financed with state money.
Get real people – the man was CEO of the corporation that ran up the biggest Medicare/Medicaid fine ever imposed, and you expected him to OK a curb on the rampant abuse and criminal behavior in the South Florida medical community? That data base threatened his friends and peers, so, of course he axed it. Next thing you know people will be surprised when he reduces the ability of the state to investigate Medicaid fraud.
6 comments
These people are not thinking!
What do they think REthugs do?
They change the laws and destroy the evidence – first!
According to plan.
Thanks for staying on top of this one for us.
Sorry, although I despise Scott, I think he did a good thing here, regardless of his motivation. The last thing this country needs is further expansion of the stupid War on Drugs. It’s become a major industry that has corrupted and militarized law enforcement, drained public revenues, badly damaged civil liberties and made life that much harder for anyone who lacks good medical coverage and connections.
I’m personally biased. Back in Washington State, with no health coverage and in searing pain from a kidney stone attack I resorted to a walk-in clinic only to find that their policies precluded issuing any serious pain meds — too much hassle from police oversight. I still had to pay of course, which I could ill afford, and was forced to use an emergency room to obtain the pain relief I needed. More recently I’ve had to live with some chronic pain with no relief for similar reasons, which tends to make one grumpy.
When this country offers its residents universal and affordable medical treatment (which would be never), then maybe I’ll feel you can justify strict, paternalistic gatekeeping of this sort. Personally though, I think suffering through one Prohibition should have been enough for us to have learned better – the cure is worse than the disease.
How much did Rush Limbaugh contribute to this guys campaign?
Suzan, the guy is a millionaire from his years in the health care industry, and people saw nothing but the “Rick Scott infomercial” for months. No one, not a Republican in the primary, or either of his major opponents in the general had anywhere near the money to work with that he did. He blew through about $50 million of his own money to buy the job.
Jill, he didn’t need Rush’s cash.
PJ, I don’t disagree on the whole “war on drugs” thing, Prohibition didn’t work, and neither will this. However, these guys aren’t dispensing any health care to speak of, and many of them are scamming the Medicare and Medicaid systems, in addition to shipping the majority of illegal prescription drugs to the Appalachian states.
One of the things that the data base would have helped with is the investigation of fraud. Like most states, Florida’s system of regulating doctors is generally used to protect bad doctors, not to get rid of them. If the guys with the medical licenses started losing them for some of these activities, it might convince some of the others to actually start practicing medicine, instead of running these scams.
Health care costs are unreasonable, and the con artists and fraudulent clinics are sucking off funds that should be available to help people. There are plenty of illegal drugs available, there is no need to feed the bottom line of the drug companies through these diversions.
There is not doubt that “Medicare for All” is the best solution for a lot of these problems, as well as the concerns of the people, but people haven’t counted in this country since Ronald Reagan became President.
wellllll… having done some dr-shopping myself in the past, i can’t say i’m sorry to see the patient-tracking part of it killed off, but yeah, there’s not a doubt in my mind that scott’s real mission is to make it harder to track medicare and medicaid fraud.
The guy is a crook from the get-go, and apparently thinks he’s in Texas, because he is proposing a two-year budget, as they do in Texas.
It’s the same as always, the state overreacts and, instead of target a program to deal with a specific problem, they use a shotgun approach. These things almost always impact poor people negatively.