The U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Dec. 14, 2000, that HCA Inc. — formerly Columbia/HCA — and its subsidiaries pleaded guilty to “substantial criminal conduct and paid more than $840 million in criminal fines, civil restitution and penalties.”

On June 26, 2003, the DOJ announced also that HCA “has agreed to pay the United States $631 million in civil penalties and damages arising from false claims the government alleged it submitted to Medicare and other federal health programs.”

In addition, HCA paid $250 million “to resolve overpayment claim arising from certain of its cost reporting practices,” the DOJ stated.

Altogether, the for-profit hospital chain which owned more than 500 home health centers and some 340 hospitals earning $18.8 billion, according to Politico, paid $1.7 billion in fines and penalties. It was “by far the largest recovery ever reached by the government in a heath care fraud investigation,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ filed no criminal charges following “the most comprehensive health care fraud investigation” it had ever undertaken along with other federal and state agencies. Instead, the settlement “resolves HCA’s civil liability for false claims resulting from a variety of allegedly unlawful practices, including cost report fraud and the payment of kickbacks to physicians.”

This would be old news – except that the head of HCA at the time was Rick Scott, a now first-term U.S. senator from Florida seeking re-election. Scott accepted responsibility as CEO, while insisting that he did nothing wrong. He resigned in 1997, departing with $10 million in cash, including $5 million under a consulting agreement, and $300 million in stock and options.

Despite that background, the Illinois native, who started an investment company in Naples, Florida, won three consecutive Florida statewide elections. His golden parachute from HCA obviously gave him a substantial advantage but, even then, he barely won. He spent $78 million of his own money on his first run for governor in 2010, winning by 1 percent, $13 million on his re-election in 2014, winning by 1.07 percent, and $63.6 million in the Senate race in 2018, winning by 0.12 percent, The Orlando Sentinel reported.

For his re-election bid, Scott is resorting to a modern version of the “Open Sesame” secret password which Ali Baba used to enter the den of thieves: “Donald Trump.” He is no longer contrite and, just as the former President is insisting that the four criminal indictments against him are due to the “weaponizing” of the DOJ, Scott is now claiming that the authorities went after his company because he had opposed the healthcare reforms which President Bill Clinton had been proposing and which his wife spearheaded.

“It happened to me. I fought Hillarycare and guess what happened when I fought Hillarycare? [The Department of] Justice came after me and attacked me and my company,” Scott recently told “Fox & Friends.”

Scott, the second richest member of Congress, with an estimated worth of more than $250 million, has big political ambitions. He lost a challenge to Mitch McConnell of Louisiana for the post of Republican Senate leader and will try again for the job if he is re-elected, now that McConnell is retiring.

So, on Feb. 22, 2022, Scott unveiled an “11-Point Plan to Rescue America” with this introduction:

“The militant left now controls the entire federal government, the news media, academia, Hollywood, and most corporate boardrooms – but they want more. They are redefining America and silencing their opponents. Among the things they plan to change or destroy are: American history, patriotism, border security, the nuclear family, gender, traditional morality, capitalism, fiscal responsibility, opportunity, rugged individualism, Judeo-Christian values, dissent, free speech, color blindness, law enforcement, religious liberty, parental involvement in public schools, and private ownership of firearms. Is this the beginning of the end of America? Only if we allow it to be.”

The plan’s highlights are:

Patriotism: Children will be required to “say the pledge of allegiance, salute the Flag, learn that America is a great country, and choose the school that best fits them” so as to “inspire patriotism.”

Race: No one will be asked “to disclose their race, ethnicity, or skin color on any government forms. We are going to eliminate racial politics in America. No government policy will be based on race.”

Crime: “The soft-on-crime days of coddling criminal behavior will end. … We will re-fund and respect the police because they, not the criminals, are the good guys.”

Border: “We will secure our border, finish building the wall, and name it after President Donald Trump.”

Economy: “We will grow America’s economy, … We will shrink the federal government, reduce the government work force by 25% in 5 years, sell government buildings and assets, and get rid of the old, slow, closed, top-down, government-run-everything system we have today.”

Federal bureaucracy: “We will eliminate all federal programs that can be done locally, and enact term limits for federal bureaucrats and Congress. … The permanent ruling class in Washington is bankrupting us with inflation and debt, so they must be removed. For you to have more, Washington must have less.”

Elections: “We will protect the integrity of American Democracy and stop leftwing efforts to rig elections. … We won’t allow the radical left to destroy our democracy by institutionalizing dishonesty and fraud.”

Family: “The nuclear family is crucial to civilization, it is God’s design for humanity, and it must be protected and celebrated. To say otherwise is to deny science. … We will not allow Socialism to place the needs of the state ahead of the family.”

Gender and abortion: “Men are men, women are women, and unborn babies are babies. We believe in science: Men and women are biologically different, ‘male and female He created them. … Facts are facts, the earth is round, the sun is hot, there are two genders, and abortion stops a beating heart. To say otherwise is to deny science.”

Religion: “Americans will be free to welcome God into all aspects of our lives, and we will stop all government efforts to deny our religious freedom and freedom of speech.”

Foreign relations: “We will conduct no trade that takes away jobs or displaces American workers. Countries who oppose us at the UN will get zero financial help from us. We will be energy-independent and build supply chains that never rely on our adversaries. We will only help countries that are willing to defend themselves, like Israel.”

The Miami Herald Editorial Board denounced Scott’s agenda for leadership, saying it has nothing to do with “governing” or “rescuing” America but is “about something much more mercenary. It is about stoking anger and division as a political strategy.”

The Herald added, “It is about getting elected and staying elected, pure and simple. … about fanning the flames of fear … about exploiting people’s feelings of deprivation. If you are unhappy or feel downtrodden, there must be someone to blame, whether it’s Washington or the elite or people of color. Pick your target, but make sure you get mad.”

Scott, The Herald said, “wants Floridians to be afraid and then be angry, because that is an emotion the people in power can harness for their own political gains.”

That strategy is not surprising. Scott, like Marco Rubio, the senior Florida senator — who is not up for re-election -does not have much of a record to show to Floridians for his six years in Washington. As governor, Scott rejected millions of federal dollars under the Affordable Care Act to expand health care coverage. He made it a point to frustrate the efforts of most ex-felons seeking restoration of their voting rights.

Whether Scott will be four-time winner in November remains to be seen. He was leading his Democratic challenger, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Miami, by a wide margin, until a recent poll showed the gap had narrowed to two percent, 45 to 43, according to The South Florida Sentinel, which cited a Florida Atlantic University and Mainstreet Research poll.

Still, the combination of wealth and Trumpism makes Scott a formidable foe.