After the tumultuous finish to the years when he built Columbia/HCA into the nation’s largest healthcare company, Rick Scott came to Florida. In 2001, without much notice, he backed creation of an urgent-care company, Jacksonville-based Solantic, that has grown to 31 locations in Florida and plans to go national. The clinics promise to save money for insurers and patients by providing quality care in a Starbucks-like setting where prices for tests and other services appear on menu-like displays.

Scott’s quiet phase ended a year ago, when he made it his mission to sink Obamacare. Since, he’s advocated for healthcare insurance based on a few key principles: A safety net for the truly uninsurable, a free market and individual responsibility. As many industry players strategized to influence federal legislation to their liking, a Scott-founded organization, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, went out front, attacking the Democratic overhaul in video ads featuring British and Canadian patients who had horrible experiences with their government health systems. “I believe you help people by helping them become more independent, not by making them more dependent,” Scott says. “I think it’s clear (people) don’t want more government.”