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Scott Wants State To Sue For Access To VA Hospitals
May 29, 2014
Gov. Rick Scott, who has increased efforts to appeal to military voters as he seeks re-election, wants to sue the federal government for blocking state inspectors from Veterans Administration hospitals.
The state Agency for Health Care Administration, at Scott’s urging, said Wednesday it will file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs seeking to allow state inspectors access to Florida-based VA hospitals so they can determine if the health care needs of veterans are being met.
While no legal action has been taken, AHCA spokeswoman Shelisha Coleman said in an email that “the agency will take the necessary actions to hold the VA accountable.”
Mary Kay Hollingsworth, a spokeswoman for the federal agency, said it would be “inappropriate for us to speculate” on the specifics of Florida’s litigation until it is filed.
State inspectors have been trying for more than a month to gain access to the federal facilities to conduct a review of allegations of inappropriate scheduling and treatment that have been reported at VA facilities nationwide.
The governor’s request follows his call May 21 for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign as investigations are ongoing into the treatment of veterans, and the potential cover-up of delayed care, at 26 health clinics nationwide, including the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center in Gainesville.
“To date, Secretary Shinseki has refused to step down, our inspectors continue to be turned away, and none of the information we’ve asked for has been provided,” Scott said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “Transparency and accountability are critical to supporting our veterans, and this suit will fight the federal VA’s continued practice of stonewalling our inspectors.”
Calls for Shinseki to resign were heightened Wednesday after the federal agency’s Office of Inspector General released a preliminary report indicating that delayed medical care, along with efforts to hide records, was “systemic” throughout the veterans’ health system.
According to AHCA, state staff members were denied access to Malcom Randall on May 19. Also, between April 3 and April 14 they were blocked from access to medical clinics in Gainesville, Lake City, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg and West Palm Beach.
A spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist said Scott has failed to help an estimated 41,000 veterans in Florida by declining to expand access to health care through the federal Affordable Care Act.
“It’s unfortunate that Rick Scott may be attempting to inject politics (through calling for a lawsuit against the VA) into a tragic situation,” Crist spokesman Kevin Cate said Wednesday.
Crist accused Scott of using the VA issue as a “political tool” last week.
The Republican Party of Florida has responded that Crist is the one “exploiting” the issue, noting that the former governor included a link to his political campaign and a fundraising page when tweeting his own message that Shinseki should resign.
The state currently is home to 1.5 million veterans, with nearly a third from the Vietnam era and 231,000 having served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, according to the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Scott, who served in the Navy, turned his attention to the veterans’ hospital issue on April 1, a day after signing the “Florida GI Bill,” a wide-ranging measure modeled after the federal World War II-era program.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Comments
12 Responses to “Scott Wants State To Sue For Access To VA Hospitals”
To Sho-Nuff,
Rick Scott is a thief. He robbed the federal government of millions in the medicaid fraud scandal. He should be in prison not the governor’s mansion. There is not a surplus of money and the state is not better off financially than it was 4 years ago. What has happened is, many state employees lost their job to private contract business that are huge campaign contributors to the GOP. For years the prisons used inmate labor to mow the sides of the road. Inmate labor is free. Now a private contractor has that job at the expense of taxpayers. Look at the sides of the roads. The grass is so high if you had to pull over you would get lost. Your tax dollar are filling the pockets of these contract GOP cronies and they are not doing what they are paid to do. I say we need new leadership in Tallahassee.
Every once and a while this governor comes up with a good idea. In my opinion, this is one of them.
Sorry Scott is an idiot. I worked AHCA and they only survey Medicare/Medicaid and state licensed facilities. He was in the health care field, he should know better. This is about getting votes and not caring about any vets or any one else for that matter. POLITICS!!!
Rick Scott grew up poor and joined the Navy in 1970 . He served as a shipboard Radar Tech. His yearly salary for Florida Governor is 1 penny because he turned down the salary. He is worth millions and works for free.
Not very popular because he does not get out and talk and rub elbows with the voters.
Us Southerner folk like that kinda stuff and would vote for the Devil himself if he showed up at a fish fry and hugged a few babies.
Look at the financial status of Florida before he became Governor and were we are now. Florida is one of the few States with a budget surplus instead of a deficit. That means money in the bank now instead of owing money to put it in common folk terms.
At Vet’s wife, I am an honorably retired veteran with twenty one years services.
I come from a working class family, from a small town in Alabama.
I know little of elitism, other than the fact that in most instances the poor do the fighting and dying and the elite send them there to do so.
War is about finance and profit. If it were about victory and winning there would be no war as our enemies would be defeated and buried.
Good luck.
To 429SCJ–
For many, their military service comes from a calling, not from a lack of education or an inability to find a civilian job. Your post reeks of elitism.
If Republicans actually care about veterans, they should stop filibustering every bill designed to help them, and if we as a nation can’t take care of our wounded veterans, we should stop making more of them.
Forget the draft, Everyone should be required to serve in the military, upon thier 18th birthday they should be required to show up to the nearest induction center, No exemptions for any reason except severe disability. 6 year minimum active duty tour required with inactive reserve till age 60. If your not willing to fight for or serve this country, you need to leave.
DAV + 429 + Rural….
Each of you have Extremely Valid Points…Thank You.
DAV…THE PRIVILEGED for the most part seemed to only serve when they were relatively sure that they’d come to no harm and that their “service” would be politically useful in a later well-planned career.
The USA made a Sacred Promise to those who went to and who are in the Military Service that they would have care when it was needed.
That Sacred Promise has become a sham and a disgrace to the USA and has become a near death penalty to many of our brave Vets because of crappy and criminal actions on the parts of our government in every sector.
If governor scott is so interested in bringing things to light from the VA then why does he hide his true worth and assets like a coward behind the Blind Trust ?
Dear Lord, can we PLEASE have a Better Candidate for Florida Governor?
Dear Lord, can we PLEASE have true Representation from our Lawmakers?
Dear Lord, PLEASE Bless and Watch Over our Veterans and make them suffer no more at the hands of a greedy and profit driven bureaucracy.
Thank You to Those who Have Served and Now Serve, God Save the USA.
When there was a draft, “THE PRIVILEGED” still did not serve because of deferments. Many were BS. I agree there should be another draft, NO DEFERMENTS, for the rich or politically connected. No one should make laws for a country they are not willing to defend, even with their lives. USN 1968 – 1996. (And no, I was not drafted until 18 months after I was in WESTPAC.)
If you want to avoid problems with the V.A. then obtain for yourself the best education you can and seek a career in the civilian sector.
A draft should be established so that citizens of all size purses can share in the honor and glory of American military service. You can bet then that congress would be more hesitant to jump into military actions, such as the Iraq adventure
which has generated tens of thousands of VA patients.
The poor and MBAs with no job prospects should not have to do all the fighting.
This is a national disgrace. Both parties need to put their politics aside and get this fixed. It is not a party issue but a big government bureaucracy issue. We give billions in aid to countries with people that hate us. We bribe leaders like Karzai with pallets of cash while our veterans are dying waiting for care. Not one more penny should be sent out of this country or to any non-essential domestic programs until this is fixed.
Charlie Christ is pathetic. Of course Scott is trying to score political points. Everything politicians do is politically calculated, but at least Scott is doing something. Christ’s assumption that veterans would do better under a new big government health program when they manipulate the one they have now to make the results look better is bad logic.
More heads than just Shinseki should roll.