re: Hurricane Irma - Spinning Down

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Didn't realize he was so wealthy

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Scott started what was first Columbia in 1987, purchasing two El Paso, Texas, hospitals. Over the next decade he would add hundreds of hospitals, surgery centers and home health locations. In 1994, Scott’s Columbia purchased Tennessee-headquartered HCA and its 100 hospitals, and merged the companies. In 1997, federal agents went public with an investigation into the company, first seizing records from four El Paso-area hospitals and then expanding across the country. The investigation focused on whether Columbia/HCA had committed Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Scott resigned as CEO in July 1997, less than four months after the inquiry became public. Company executives said had Scott remained CEO, the entire chain could have been in jeopardy. During his 2010 race, the Miami Herald reported that Scott had said he would have immediately stopped his company from committing fraud -- if only "somebody told me something was wrong." But there were such warnings in the company’s annual public reports to stockholders -- which Scott had to sign as president and CEO. Scott wanted to fight the accusations, but the corporate board of the publicly traded company wanted to settle. In December 2000, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Columbia/HCA agreed to pay $840 million in criminal fines, civil damages and penalties. Among the revelations from the 2000 settlement: • Columbia billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs for tests that were not necessary or had not been ordered by physicians; • The company attached false diagnosis codes to patient records to increase reimbursement to the hospitals; • The company illegally claimed non-reimbursable marketing and advertising costs as community education; • Columbia billed the government for home health care visits for patients who did not qualify to receive them. The government settled a second series of similar claims with Columbia/HCA in 2002 for an additional $881 million. The total for the two fines was $1.7 billion. On Scott’s 2010 campaign website, he admitted to the $1.7 billion fine, though the link is no longer on the site.

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Rick Scott is a pos

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Bobby Jindal was a human dynamo when it came to hurricanes. Unfortunately, he was a POS otherwise.

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We are sticking it out in Bonita Springs (Naples/Frt. Myers). All of sudden, everyone is scared shitless around here. My dad is so pissed we aren't leaving. My friends and neighbors are riding it out. Projected 70 mph sustained with 120+ gusts. I feel like that is manageable. We have a shelter within walking distance, but we live in a brand new home with concrete walls and hurricane resistant windows. We are prepared, I'm not worried about physical safety because I think we will be ok. Maybe not.

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The fact that you aren't 100% confident in your physical safety tells me all I need to know to GTFO 

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We are 9 miles inland.

Hey glass, there is nowhere to go. With traffic and no gas, we would be stuck in our vehicles. We have to stay.

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We are sticking it out in Bonita Springs (Naples/Frt. Myers). All of sudden, everyone is scared shitless around here. My dad is so pissed we aren't leaving. My friends and neighbors are riding it out. Projected 70 mph sustained with 120+ gusts. I feel like that is manageable. We have a shelter within walking distance, but we live in a brand new home with concrete walls and hurricane resistant windows. We are prepared, I'm not worried about physical safety because I think we will be ok. Maybe not.

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