TEA Candidate Peg Dunmire Defends Rick Scott on Medicare Billing

In the afterglow of Rick Scott's "outsider" victory over Bill McCollum, TEA Party congressional candidate Peg Dunmire said she defended the former Columbia/HCA executive's record throughout the primary campaign.

"I witnessed the distortions that the McCollum camp used in their ads. I am a health-care professional, I understand the Medicare case and would like to remind all readers that the problems that were cited in the fraud case are the problems with government-run health care," said Dunmire, who is running in the 8th Congressional District.

"Medicare writes rules that are ambiguous and then retroactively comes in and denies payments for services. All hospitals face the same problems and I call this the moral hazard of government-run programs," Dunmire said.

"Legislators knowingly write laws that are confusing and then tell the providers to figure it out. Later, auditors come in and say, 'Bad provider, you didn't do what we think you should so we will fine you.'

"In fact, the real problem is the government. Scott knows this and his victory provides us with hope that we will have a leader who can address our pressing issues."

Dunmire, the nation's first Tea Party candidate to run for Congress this year, squares off against Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, and the winner of Tuesday's Republican primary, former state Senate President Daniel Webster, on Nov. 2.