Gov. Rick Scott defended Florida’s decision to not implement federal health care reform in the state in an interview today with C-SPAN.
When callers asked Scott on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal about the state rejecting millions in federal grants for health care, he explained that he does not approve of the federal government handing out money with stipulations:
They take our tax dollars, we give it to the federal government, they give it back to us and say, ‘Here are the strings attached.’ They shouldn’t be able to do that.
They should give us those dollars.
When asked again about this, Scott replied:
What we haven’t accepted are dollars from the federal government that implement the ObamaCare — the Affordable Health Care Act. One thing you have to do as governor is — it’s no different from what they did with the stimulus. They gave us stimulus dollars and then they stopped. And they expect us to keep those programs going.
So every dollar they offer us, we have to look at those grants and say, “All right, how long is the grant for? Is it something that fits in with what we’re trying to do?”
We have a very specific Medicaid reform package that is going to be very good for the Medicaid recipients. If it helps us in that reform, we’re going for it. If it doesn’t, we’re not doing it because it doesn’t make sense for our state and the people we care about in this state.
The state Legislature has used its “well-established policy of not implementing any portion of federal heath care reform through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” as a way to reject funds that would go to things like child abuse and neglect prevention. The Legislature has, though, accepted grants from the Affordable Care Act for abstinence-only sex education.
Hat tip: The Buzz.
