Florida Governor Rick Scott Yelled At By Citizen At Starbucks, And Here’s Why [Video]
Florida Governor Rick Scott got an earful instead of a cup of coffee when he visited a Gainesville Starbucks on April 5. As Upworthy reports, at least one customer at the coffee shop wasn’t a big fan of the Florida Governor or his policies. Cara Jennings began her verbal assault on Scott by calling him an “a**hole.” However, her public berating went beyond mere name-calling; Jennings had some very specific complaints about the Florida Governor’s job performance.
Check out the incident in the video below.
Every complaint levied against Governor Scott was a valid, legitimate complaint based on facts and legislative decisions made by Rick Scott. She might not have had all of the details 100 percent, but let’s break it down.
First, Jennings accused Florida Governor Rick Scott of cutting Medicaid, thus preventing her from being covered by the Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as Obamacare.) Under America’s new healthcare laws, put into place by President Obama, everyone in the nation is required to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty at the end of the year. If you are unable to afford to pay for your insurance out of your own pocket, the law provides a remedy for you.
Florida Governor Rick Scott, however, did everything in his power to prevent Floridians from getting their hands on that Medicaid coverage. How? Because Medicaid is a state program, the federal government cannot legally force states to expand their Medicaid programs to cover higher-earning citizens. The federal government gave states an immense incentive to get them on board by fully funding Medicaid expansions until 2020, and then covering 90 percent of the expansion costs post-2020.
Despite Rick Scott promising in 2013 to accept the federal funds, the Florida governor has refused the federal Medicaid expansion money. Because of his refusal to accept the earmarked federal money, a large number of Florida residents are losing out on the insurance subsidies and coverage guaranteed under Obamacare.
Florida Governor Rick Scott not have actually cut Medicaid coverage, but he has ensured that a whole lot of Floridians can’t get affordable health coverage.
When Rick Scott tried to defend his policies by touting the million new jobs in Florida, Cara Jennings was quick to call him out on the quality of those jobs, saying “A million jobs? Great! Who here has a great job?”
The fact of the matter is that over half of all Florida jobs pay less than $15 an hour, and the “low-paying” jobs sectors have been among the fastest growing in the state.
Not exactly something to brag about, especially when many of the lowest income residents in the State of Florida have been denied access to Medicaid through the Governor’s policy decisions.
The new Florida abortion bill that was recently signed into law by Governor Scott is similar to laws passed in Texas and Louisiana. In both of those states, cases challenging the laws have been brought before the U.S. Supreme Court, with decisions expected this summer.
According to ABC Action News, Cara Jennings had been reading about the new abortion law that Governor Scott approved of just before she saw him in the Starbucks. Jennings says she’d been working on her laptop at the coffee shop when she saw Scott and thought “Is that the governor?”
Ultimately, Florida Governor Rick Scott couldn’t take the heat, and as the viral video clearly shows, he did the walk of shame out of the Starbucks without his coffee.
[Image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
