Before Gov. Rick Scott and South Florida healthcare mogul Dr. Jack Michel began pointing fingers at each other after elderly patients baked to death in Michel’s now-closed Hollywood nursing home, the two men were pals of a sort.
At least twice, the governor’s office tapped Michel to publicly endorse his budget and healthcare proposals. And since 2013, records show, Michel’s Larkin Community Hospital in South Miami has received more than $23 million from a Scott-recommended program that uses Medicaid tax dollars to train future doctors.
But that’s not the only largesse the state has lavished on Dr. Michel, who in addition to being president and chairman of Larkin is its 100 percent owner. Michel also owns 100 percent of the notorious Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, state records show.
The Naples Daily News reported last month that Larkin “has received $48 million in taxpayer money since 2006 to treat state prisoners” under “no-bid agreements.”
