He oversaw the largest Medicare fraud settlement in United States history. His company pleaded guilty to 14 felonies. He invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times. He walked away with over $350 million. Then he ran for office — and won.
From hospital CEO to the largest Medicare fraud in history — to the United States Senate
Rick Scott co-founds Columbia Hospital Corporation with Richard Rainwater, beginning an aggressive hospital acquisition strategy.
Columbia merges with HCA and Medical Care America to form Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation — the largest for-profit hospital company in the United States.
In March 1997, federal agents from the FBI, IRS, and Department of Health and Human Services raid Columbia/HCA facilities across the country, launching the largest healthcare fraud investigation in history.
Under pressure from the board and investigators, Rick Scott resigns as CEO in July 1997. He walks away with $9.88 million in cash, plus stock and options worth over $350 million.
Columbia/HCA pleads guilty to 14 corporate felonies related to defrauding Medicare and other federal health programs through systematic overbilling and false claims.
Over a series of settlements, Columbia/HCA agrees to pay $1.7 billion in fines, penalties, and damages — making it the largest healthcare fraud settlement involving a hospital corporation in U.S. history.
Despite overseeing the largest Medicare fraud in history, Rick Scott spends $75 million of his personal fortune to win the Florida governorship. When asked about the fraud, he claims he "didn't know" about it.
Scott wins election to the U.S. Senate, representing Florida in Congress. The man who led the company behind the largest Medicare fraud in history now votes on healthcare policy for 330 million Americans.
What Columbia/HCA did under Rick Scott's leadership
Columbia/HCA systematically overcharged Medicare, Medicaid, and other government healthcare programs. The company inflated costs, billed for services not rendered, and submitted false claims on a massive, institutional scale across hundreds of hospitals and facilities nationwide.
The company deliberately upcoded patient diagnoses — recording conditions as more severe than they actually were — to extract higher reimbursements from Medicare. This practice, known as "DRG creep," turned routine care into fraudulent windfalls.
Columbia/HCA paid illegal kickbacks to physicians in exchange for patient referrals to its hospitals. These kickback arrangements violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and corrupted the medical decision-making process for thousands of patients.
The company submitted falsified cost reports to Medicare to inflate reimbursement amounts. These reports systematically misrepresented the actual costs of providing care, shifting non-reimbursable expenses into reimbursable categories to steal from taxpayers.
Columbia/HCA engaged in fraudulent billing for home health care services. The company billed Medicare for home health visits that were not medically necessary, were never provided, or were misrepresented to maximize reimbursement from federal programs.
Despite presiding as CEO over all of this, Rick Scott was never personally charged with a crime. He invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times during a civil deposition, then walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars while taxpayers bore the losses.
When asked under oath in a civil deposition about the fraud that occurred under his leadership at Columbia/HCA, Rick Scott invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 75 times.
The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from being compelled to testify against themselves in criminal proceedings. While invoking it is a constitutional right and not an admission of guilt, doing so 75 times in a deposition about the largest Medicare fraud in history raises questions that Scott has never fully answered.
“I didn't know about it.”
— Rick Scott, when later asked about the fraud as a gubernatorial candidate, despite having invoked the Fifth 75 times rather than answer questions under oath
How the CEO of America's largest Medicare fraud became one of its lawmakers
In 2010, Rick Scott spent approximately $75 million of his own money to win the Florida governor's race. His personal fortune — built in part from his compensation package at Columbia/HCA, including the $9.88 million cash severance and stock worth over $350 million — funded a campaign that overcame his controversial corporate past. As governor, he oversaw the state's healthcare policy, including decisions about Medicare and Medicaid affecting millions of Floridians.
Scott was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018, narrowly defeating incumbent Bill Nelson. He now serves on committees that shape national policy, including healthcare spending and government oversight. The man whose company committed the largest Medicare fraud in history now has a direct voice in deciding how Medicare dollars are spent and how healthcare fraud is prosecuted. He has positioned himself as a fiscal conservative who wants to cut government spending.
The core absurdity: Rick Scott's company stole from taxpayers on an unprecedented scale. The company admitted it. The company paid $1.7 billion for it. Scott was never personally charged, kept his fortune, and is now a sitting United States Senator who votes on the healthcare laws his company violated.
Every claim on this page is sourced from official government records, established fact-checking organizations, and reputable encyclopedic references.