Medicare

Poll: Only a Third of Floridians Think Rick Scott Deserves to Be Reelected

Another day, another poll with bad news for Florida Governor Rick Scott. This time it's from Quinnipiac.The poll seems to show a case of too little too late for Scott. While Floridians largely agree with Scott's latest high profile decision to expand Medicare, less than one-third feels he deserves t ... More >>

Marco Rubio Doesn't Care If You Lose Your Job Because of the Sequester, But Rick Scott Does

Congress has until midnight tomorrow to avoid the threat of a sequester, and Florida's two most prominent Republicans seem to have different attitudes on the situation. Sen. Marco Rubio, oddly, doesn't think sequestration is ideal, but doesn't seem to mind it too much. He told Fox News this morning ... More >>

Federal Tax Loopholes: Big Corporations Profit From This Mafia-Like Protection Scheme

Florida Receives More Money From the Feds Than Any State: $30K Per Person

Florida uses the federal government like a sugar daddy. The Sunshine State leads the other 49 in both the total amount of money and the money-per-capita it received from the feds in 2011. That doesn't even include that high-speed train we didn't get.According to a CNBC analysis, Florida received $57 ... More >>

Polls: Obama, Romney Now Tied In Florida, But Voters Trust President More On Medicare

Anyone expecting Florida to swing for Obama after video leaked showing Mitt Romney heaping scorn on the "47 percent" -- filmed at the home of a Boca millionaire, no less -- obviously doesn't know the Sunshine State. We live to make national elections exciting!A statewide poll released last night by ... More >>

RNC 2012 Day Two: Doe-Eyed Kid Takes Stage, Talks About AC/DC, Vows Not to Kill Old People

On Tuesday, the GOP ended the first day of its national convention by letting Chris Christie pummel Ann Romney's message of love to death with his meaty, angry fists like a Garden State mob goon. Last night, Republicans tried a more refined tactic, choosing concert pianist and conservative counterpo ... More >>

Fear and Loathing in Tampa: Your Gonzo Guide to the Republican National Convention

Poll: President Obama Still Leads Florida As Ryan Pick Slightly Boosts Romney

From the moment Mitt Romney picked budget radical Paul Ryan as his running mate, one of the biggest question is how the Wisconsin rep would play in Florida. Romney desperately needs the swing state, but Ryan's plans to turn Medicare into a voucher system -- not to mention his shaky record on the Cub ... More >>

Ronald Poppo's Gotten $75,000 In Donations; Here's How To Give Without The Middleman Taking 10 Percent

Ronald Poppo, the homeless victim of the face-eating attack, faces a long and expensive road towards recovery. But the international interest in the gruesome event has an upside: To date, around 2,000 Samaritans have donated approximately $75,000 to go to his medical care. We got that figure from La ... More >>

New York City Plans Ban on All Large Sodas and Sugary Drinks; Miami Should Be Next

In a monumental strike against the obesity epidemic, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced plans for a city-wide ban on all sugary soft drinks larger than 16 ounces during an interview in the Governor's Room at City Hall yesterday.The proposed ban would affect most enterprises that pedd ... More >>

Food Stamps Traded for Drugs and Cash, Welcome Crackdown Coming

Florida is notorious for Medicare fraud, and we also have more than our fair share of food stamp fraud. At least Miami residents can console themselves with the fact that our food stamp defrauders are not as shameless as those in other states.EBT cards, modern-day food stamps, are being traded for c ... More >>

Mitt Romney's Victorious Hair Helmet and Five Other Things We'll Miss About the GOP Primary

God bless his hair.​Mitt Romney won yesterday's Florida GOP primary, but we all know who the real victor was. Not Obama. And certainly not the country. No, el gran ganador was Willard's perfectly sculpted mop of Mittitude: his hair.Here are five other things we'll miss now that the political spotl ... More >>

Robert's Drug Store busted for illegal oxycodone at Government Center

Aiman Aryan, Accused Of Slinging Oxy, Ran Pharmacy In Downtown Government Center

photo by Daniel Christensen via Wikimedia CommonsCounty Hall, oxy central?​In true South Florida fashion, a pill mill that trafficked thousands of illegal oxycodone tablets was operating right in the heart of Miami-Dade County government, the feds say.Recent charges filed against Robert's Drug Sto ... More >>

Rick Scott wants to drug-test his brother

Mike Haridopolos Kicked Off Conservative Talk Show For Being Waffling Idiot

​Rep. Paul Ryan's Republican budget plan, which among other things essentially replaces Medicare with a voucher program, is shaping up to a be big issue in the 2012 election, and one would expect any candidate, especially running for a Federal legislative office, to have an opinion on it. Flor ... More >>

Letters from the issue of May 19, 2011

Health Care Costs a Miami Family of Four $23,362 a Year, More Than Anywhere Else in America

​The average health care bill for a family of four living in the Miami area in 2011 will be $23,362. That's more than any other major metro area in America, and a 120.5 percent, or $3,969, more than the national average. Considering that national average for health care cost has more than doubled ... More >>

Florida Newspaper Looking to Employ the Slightly Mentally Deranged

​The thing about really good journalists is that they aren't like normal people. They're slightly touched in the head. They're generally well educated, clever and capable people who could be making a lot more in some other industry, but for whatever reason don't. While most of us would respond to ... More >>

Rick Scott Ends Twitter Town Hall As Soon As He's Called a "Jackass"

Our new gov's evening smoke and tweet session ended on a sour note.​Yesterday, Rick Scott fired up the ol' Interwebs and announced his first inaugural "Twitter Town Hall." Surprise, surprise! He's just as evasive 140 characters at a time as he is in real time.Even still, the event was going just f ... More >>

Mugshots Friday: Santa Got Booked In Miami

​Have you spent the last week wondering why that plate of cookies went untouched and your stocking was bereft of swag? No, it's not because Santa found out about your massive Medicare fraud; Ol' Saint Nick's just got his own problems with Johnny Law. For Mugshot Friday's very special holiday week, ... More >>

Year in review: LeBron rescues Miami

FAIR-y tales: The immigration saga continues

Lt. Gov-elect Jennifer Carroll May Have Falsified Documents to Scam Government Program

Lt. Gov-elect Jennifer Carroll's ethics record may have looked squeaky clean compared to Gov-elect Rick Scott and his former company's record setting Medicare fraud, but it appears that Carroll's company may have been involved in scamming a government program too. The Florida Times-Union reports tha ... More >>

Alex Sink Concedes to Rick Scott

In almost any other year Alex Sink probably would have scrubbed the floor with Rick Scott. Instead this morning she issued her concession speech. With a margin currently less than 80,000 votes it appears that Rick Scott, the man who ran a company convicted of defrauding Medicare, is set to take over ... More >>

Alex Sink Picks Up Endorsement From Every Major Newspaper in the State

In an age when the broadsheets are struggling and anyone can make their own mini-endorsements on Twitter or Facebook, do newspaper endorsements still matter? The Democratic Governor nominee better hope so. She's walked away with the support of every major newspaper's editorial board in the state. Th ... More >>

Rick Scott and Bill McCollum want to turn Miami into an immigration prison

Rick Scott and Bill McCollum Are Florida's Grand Wizards

​Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke claims Democrats are missing in action in the governor's race.The Democratic Party is out of sight and out of mind in the ... More >>

University of Miami is no longer Playboy's top party school

Playboy Magazine Names University on Miami #4 Party School in America

​ Breaking news from the best twitter in the land, Playboy's: the University of Miami is no longer the no. 1 party school in the country. It is with a heavy heart that we report that the University of Texas at Austin is the new champion, thanks to its "big-time sports, gorgeous babes, [and] great ... More >>

Obama Critic Rick Scott to Run for Governor, and Boy, Does He Have an Interesting Past

​Richard L. Scott, a businessman who lives in Naples, has thrown his hat into the ring for the Republican's gubernatorial nomination against Attorney General Bill McCollum and state Sen. Paula Dockery. Don't know anything about him? Here's some fun facts:He hates President Obama's health care refo ... More >>

Fake Cop Knifes Man After Pulling Him Over, Fake Firefighter Just Really Wants to be a Firefighter

​Miami-Dade saw not one but two cases of people impersonating our men in uniform in the past day. One was using the powers of the badge for evil, while another just really, really seems to enjoy the idea of being a firefighter.In the first incident, a man posing as a cop pulled over car salesman C ... More >>

Health Care Reform Passes, No Thanks To Your South Florida Politicos

If you're half as cool as the staff here at Riptide, you were flipping between March Madness and C-SPAN last night like your life depended on it. Which to pick?photo by Sage Ross, via Wikimedia CommonsThe power of cardboard signs and megaphones was not enough to derail health reform.On CBS, Korie Lu ... More >>

Alex Sink's Confusing Response to Health-Care Reform

​We've had a hard time figuring out where presumptive gubernatorial nominee Alex Sink lies on the Democratic Party's spectrum.Is she a dyed-in-the-wool, bleeding-heart liberal? Eh, probably not.Is she a staunch Blue Dog? Doesn't quite seem like it.Is she, like so many Florida politicians, a cautio ... More >>

Letters from the issue of January 7, 2010

Tired of Art Basel? Five Suggestions for a Culture-less Weekend Getaway!

​Art Basel has a funny way of making us feel like we're outsiders in our own town. Traffic is horrible. Parking even moreso. The line at your favorite Cuban restaurant (even if that happens to be Pollo Tropical) gets filled with hoity-toity Europeans trying to work in a little "authentic Miami exp ... More >>

Hialeah-Based Medicare Scammer Will Do Time

Chase Park Via Flickr CC​You know what's delightful? Knowing your tax money goes to slimy guys such as convicted Medicare crook Ramon Santos. Riptide certainly sleeps better at night knowing we helped finance his shiny new Ford Expedition. Sigh. Last Friday, the 42-year-old faux-nurse from Hialea ... More >>

Time Stares Into the Abyss of Miami's Health Care Costs, Blames Retirees

via Fidget's flickrWe broke the news this week that the average cost of health care for a family of four in Miami was the highest in nation at $20,280, 20% more than the national average. So Time's brave Tim Padgett takes a look into the state of the health industry in Miami, and while he finds ... More >>

Undercover Fed Busts Major Bonanno Mob Ring In South Florida

An undercover FBI sting unraveled a South Florida wing of the infamous Bonanno Crime Family, leading to charges this morning against 11 members who are accused of running a dizzying criminal empire.Allegedly, the men smuggled cigarettes and committed bank and mail fraud. They laundered money, sold d ... More >>

Sparked By Sucess in Miami, Feds Widen Health Care Fraud Force

The string of headlines involving several local busts of fraudulent HIV/AIDS treatment facilities milking medicare for money was no coincidence. Two years ago the justice department begin specifically targeting medicare fraud in the city. After success in Miami and then Los Angeles, today Attorney G ... More >>

New Tax Might Kill Miami's Cigar Rollers

Obama's New Cigar Tax Might Just Kill Miami's Torcedores

Tendrils of earthy smoke snake through a room on the edge of Little Havana, past old men in guayaberas slapping dominoes on a folding table and a long counter where a wrinkled 80-year-old brews espresso. Near the front window facing NW Seventh Street, Dionisio Gonzalez gently peels a cured deep-bro ... More >>

Local Conservatives Think Conservatives Weren't Conservative Enough

Sorry Olds, but Time says Young People May Decide the Swing of the State

Magic City Kitty - Dr. Feelgood Sucks Real Good

Florida's Mean Season

Overriding minimum wage guarantees at MIA

The Frugal Gutman

Taped conversations of indicted State Sen. Alberto Gutman reveal a man who missed his true calling as a food critic

News of the Weird

Let the Sunshine In

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