Saving up to buy the next election: According to the Orlando Sentinel, the Republican Party of Florida raised nearly $5 million between October and December last year — a record for the party in a nonelection year. During the same period, the Florida Dems raised $1.8 million — and this is sad — that’s a record for them.
Nearly $1.5 million of the GOP dough came from health care and insurance companies at a time when Gov. Jeb and the wingnut-controlled state legislature are rolling up their sleeves to “reinvent” Medicare in Florida.
Spurred on by Bush, the Legislature last month approved a plan to give managed-care organizations a bigger role in health care for the poor. Supporters said the changes — which will begin with 210,000 low-income Floridians in Broward and Duval counties, but which backers hope to eventually spread statewide — will help hold down spending on Medicaid, a $15 billion-a-year program that currently absorbs almost a quarter of the state’s $63 billion budget.
Under the Republican governor’s plan, money the state now pays directly to doctors and hospitals who provide service to Medicaid patients would instead be parceled out largely through HMOs and other networks. Many of the companies that gave are expected to compete for new, Medicaid-related contracts.
And I’ll wager that some money that’s supposed to be “parceled out” will likely stick in the HMO’s coffers.
Speaking of wagering, the same week the Fla. GOP raised a record-setting $800,000 just happened to be the week of a special session wherein lawmakers considered both the Medicaid plan and allowing slot machines at pari-mutuel betting facilities. Want to know where the moolah came from?
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida wrote the GOP a pair of checks totaling $50,000.
- Humana Inc. made three contributions worth $40,000 altogether.
- WellCare Health Plans gave $30,000.
- HCA, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, donated $60,000 through a trio of committees.
- Mike Fernandez, a Coral Gables-based health-care entrepreneur, gave the party a $50,000 check Dec. 6 — the second day of the four-day special session.
- Pari-mutuels, a horse-racing political committee and the Seminole Tribe, which operates casinos around the state, combined to give the GOP more than $265,000.
Is there a super-lobbyist in the house? Well, kids, it looks like this swamp is still for sale to the highest bidders.
