Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview Wednesday that former Vice President Joe Biden’s public option serves as nothing more than a scheme to enroll every American in a “government” healthcare plan, adding that “government insurance products don’t work.”
Sen. Scott, a former governor of Florida and former chief executive of one of the nation’s largest hospital associations, spoke with Breitbart News regarding his thoughts on Biden’s public option plan and Medicare for All, his healthcare proposals, and his work to help Republicans lead on healthcare reform.
Biden launched his campaign healthcare platform. The former vice president’s plan would create a “public option,” allowing a government health insurance option to compete with private health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges. Biden’s plan would also offer access to health care for illegal immigrants.
In a separate interview, Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) called Biden’s plan “preposterous” in an interview with Breitbart News.
Sen. Scott said that a government public option serves as nothing more than an attempt to enroll everyone on government health insurance because private companies will not be able to compete with Biden’s public option plan.
Scott said with the “Joe Biden plan, basically, they’ll set up a government insurance company and it won’t have to live by the same rules, it’s just a way to get everyone on a government plan.”
“If you do Biden’s plan and what’s going to happen there, they’ll set up the rules where other insurance companies cannot compete so you’ll lose your private insurance, the costs will go [up], the taxpayer is going to pay for this,” Scott added.
Jonathan Allen of NBC News said Monday a public option essentially serves as a “backdoor” to single-payer health care.
“The public option is essentially a back door to Medicare for all,” Allen said. “You can say all day long if you want it’s not Medicare for all. But this is a different packaging of how to get there. In a general election, that’s a different question.”
“If we go down the same path with this, the plan that Joe Biden wants, the government starts taking it over, I mean there’s no way that we could pay for it,” Scott said. “We can’t pay for it as we do now.”
Sen. Scott added, stating that “government insurance products don’t work.”
Biden also claimed, “if you like your private insurance, you can keep it,” echoing former President Barack Obama’s infamous claim that Americans could keep their health insurance plan and their doctor under Obamacare.
Millions of Americans lost their healthcare plan and their doctors after Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law.
“If you like your health care plan, your employer-based plan, you can keep it,” Biden said Monday, adding that “if you like your private insurance, you can keep it.”
The former Florida governor said when asked what he thought of Biden’s usage of Obama’s infamous claim, “How does that go? You fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
The Florida Republican said, “Obamacare was sold on lies, and they’re using the same lies of 2008” to fool Americans in 2019.
Sen. Scott charged that Democrats focus too much of their time on giving Americans access to health insurance coverage, instead of lowering the overall cost of health care.
“By the way, what the Democrats keep doing, they can only focus on one thing: the insurance side. I’ve talked to people on the Obamacare exchanges, and they said it’s great that we have an insurance plan, we just don’t get any health care because the copayments are too high,” Scott said.
In contrast, the Florida Republican said he and other GOP lawmakers have continued to propose legislation that would lower the cost of health care.
For instance, he and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced in the America First Drug Pricing Plan, which would increase consumer choice, price transparency, and more price fairness when it comes to the cost of prescription drugs. The plan would ban drug companies from charging consumers more for prescription drugs than other industrialized nations such as Great Britain, Canada, or Germany.
Sen. Scott noted that he “did the same thing in the hospital business, hospitals here and in Europe” to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
“What Republicans are doing if you look at our proposals, as in all the conversation I’m in with people, is driving down the costs. If you drive down the cost, more people will be able to afford health care, we want them to actually get health care,” Scott said.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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