Remember when Florida started drug testing welfare recipients?
They were trying to save money. This was a big deal. Someone told Florida that most welfare recipients were literally on drugs and they believed this. See, this is because the state is full of people with rocks in their head.
April 14, 2011http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/gov-rick-scott-finalizes-deal-to-sell-his-holdings-in-urgent-care-chain/1163630TALLAHASSEE — Two weeks after insisting he was "not involved in that company," Gov. Rick Scott finalized a deal Wednesday to sell Solantic Inc., the Jacksonville chain of urgent care clinics he founded.
Scott's sale of the company comes as he attempts to distance himself from repeated conflict-of-interest questions about whether the company he started in 2001 — and hoped to develop into a national chain — would benefit from the aggressive health care changes he wants state lawmakers to approve.
The sale to Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe makes the New York investment firm the largest shareholder in the company. In 2007, the firm bought a 30 percent share in Solantic when it committed up to $100 million to the company. Two of the firm's partners, Thomas A. Scully and D. Scott Mackesy, sit on the board of directors.
Scott put the value of his majority share of the company at $62 million last year in the financial disclosure filed as part of his race. Scott agreed to sell his holdings for less than that amount, but neither side would provide the exact figure of the deal, expected to close April 29.
Selling all the shares would free him from political problems related to the company, an ethics expert said.
The last statement kills me.
You need an ethics expert when you are dealing with Florida.All kidding aside, let's get real for a second. What an ethics expert is saying right here is that just because he doesn't own the company anymore, he has no reason why he'd do something in their favor.
I understand what they are trying to say.
So, okay. His idea for government-run drug testing has nothing to do with the fact that he owned majority stock in a company that specialized in drug testing.
It's just a good idea, right?
I bet this will work out for Florida.
One Year Laterhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/us/no-savings-found-in-florida-welfare-drug-tests.htmlNo Savings Are Found From Welfare Drug Tests, 96% of Welfare Applicants Passed Drug TestsCost of the tests averages about $30. Assuming that 1,000 to 1,500 applicants take the test every month, the state will owe about $28,800-$43,200 monthly in reimbursements to those who test drug-free.
That compares with roughly $32,200-$48,200 the state may save on one month’s worth of rejected applicants.
Net savings to the state: $3,400 to $5,000 annually on one month’s worth of rejected applicants. Over 12 months, the money saved on all rejected applicants would add up to $40,800 to $60,000 for a program that state analysts have predicted will cost $178 million this fiscal year
From July through October in Florida — the four months when testing took place before Judge Scriven’s order — 2.6 percent of the state’s cash assistance applicants failed the drug test, or 108 of 4,086, according to the figures from the state obtained by the group. The most common reason was marijuana use. An additional 40 people canceled the tests without taking them.
Well.