Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida poured more money in Florida campaigns than any other single entity in the 2012 election cycle — $4.8 million, and is already the largest contributor in the current cycle, a Herald/Times analysis has found.
But, when it came to getting the company’s top priority fulfilled – the expansion of Medicaid to cover one million more uninsured Floridians – the health care giant came away empty handed. Legislators walked away from extending Medicaid coverage to Florida residents at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level after House leaders fiercely resisted the option.
The health insurance giant was not the only company to fall way short. Hospitals, nursing homes, and the ill-fated Internet cafe industry, all invested heavily in Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-controlled Legislature this year but went home empty, the paper also reported.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida contributed $867,000 to Scott and the GOP-controlled Legislature since January, company officials said, the Miami Herald reported.
Read more here on top political donors – winners and losers.
