Phil Ammann
Sen. Don Gaetz took to Pensacola talk radio to ridicule Gov. Rick Scott for his plan to have Florida hospitals share proceeds with other, less profitable health care facilities.
In the first part of his interview with Rick Outzen on his “Pensacola Speaks” radio show, the Niceville Republican said:
“When Governor Scott, who as you know made probably hundreds of millions of dollars buying and selling hospitals, said this, my first thought was, ‘What an extraordinary and generous impulse. Clearly, he’s going to make this retroactive’… but apparently not.”
Gaetz – who Outzen called a leader, statesman, and coalition-builder — then called out Scott for trying to introduce “socialism” into the state’s health care system by “forcibly extracting” revenues from one business and giving it to another.
“That’s government price controls,” he added, “that really brought the Soviet Union into a ‘Going Out of Business’ sale.”
Gaetz also disagreed that the governor began telling departments that the special session, which starts June 1, would bring a “continuation,” or status quo, budget – with no spending increases for programs such as schools, the environment or prisons.
“We don’t have that in Florida,” Gaetz said. “In Florida, we have a balanced budget provision in our constitution. Continuation budgets; that’s Washington talk,”
Gaetz likened a continuation budget to kicking the can down the road and avoiding the tough decisions about funding and tax cuts.
“We’re not that kind of people in Florida,” said Gaetz. “Our constitution is clear and the people of Florida have spoken.”
What voters want, he added, is for the legislature to pass a balanced budget, one that the governor either signs or vetoes.
“But we don’t kick the can down the road with a continuing resolution or a continuing budget like they do in Washington.”
