Heathcare Astroturf Uncovered on CNN- Watch

Rick Scott, the former chairman of Columbia Hospital Corporation, a for-profit chain of hospitals, is the founder of an organization called “Conservatives for Patients’ Rights.”  CPR (cute, huh?) is now funding protests like the ones we see at health care reform town hall meetings across the country—  at which Congresspeople are being shouted down, scuffles started, and people routinely intimidated by mobs of frightened birther/wingnuts.

 His campaign is coordinated by CRC Public Relations, the same PR firm that masterminded the 2004 Swift Boat campaign against presidential candidate John Kerry.  What’s more interesting, Scott’s own personal history in the healthcare industry shows how the current system can be gamed by those who would bilk the public.  Scott was forced out of the Columbia Hospital Corporation in 1997 by its board after being identified with massive overbilling and kickbacks for which the company ended up paying the $1.7 billion in fines.

 Here’s an encounter Scott perhaps didn’t expect with CNN’s Rick Sanchez yesterday.  Unfortunately for Scott, Sanchez had actually done his homework and uncovered the unpleasant facts behind Scott’s accumulated millions in the healthcare business.  Watch: