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January 19, 2011 08:43 PM UTC

Tipton Dutifully Plants Health Care Repeal Flag

  • 71 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

As the Durango Herald’s Patrick Young reports, along with Rep. Scott Tipton’s minute and ten seconds of boilerplate glory on the House floor yesterday (right):

House Republicans today will vote on House Resolution 2, a measure that would undo the health-care bill passed by the previous Democratic-controlled Congress.

Most of the constituents who spoke during the town-hall meeting supported repeal though no one, Tipton included, wanted a return to the health-care system before passage of reform.

“I support repeal 100 percent,” said ‘Dan’ from Grand Junction. “There’s just no way we can go back to the old system.” Tipton, R-Cortez, agreed…

‘Susie’ from Montrose asked if he would “fight like a tiger” to pass health-care repeal. Tipton assured her he would. He said he had no doubts HR 2 would pass the House, where Republicans enjoy a comfortable 242-193 majority, but he acknowledged it would probably die in the Senate, which the Democrats control.

…’Marcia’ from Gunnison broke ranks, arguing the health-care reform didn’t go far enough. “More people in America want health-care reform to be increased rather than repealed,” she said, saying health-care costs are increasing and insurance companies are paying less.

Tipton didn’t entirely disagree…

The complete futility of the effort notwithstanding, or even the potential political consequences for those who backed this repeal grandstand just as the American people are starting to tire of the endless, unsupported demagoguery about the law…seriously, folks, is there anything, in either Tipton’s floor speech above, or this story about his teleconference with constituents, that leaves you confident he has the slightest idea what he is talking about? Any indication that Tipton is qualified to contribute to this discussion beyond talking points he is handed to recite–with, we might add, what appears to be a sock in his mouth (see: floor speech above)?

There are Republicans in Congress who are capable of making something resembling a rational case, certainly a forcefully-worded case, for their opposition to health care reform today. Scott Tipton is not one of them, and by attempting to sing along without really knowing the words, he helps expose the intellectual bankruptcy of the whole effort.

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71 thoughts on “Tipton Dutifully Plants Health Care Repeal Flag”

  1. Republicans can’t actually figure out WHY they oppose HCR, they just engage in silly crowd pleasing bullshit. It depends on the listener being as ignorant as they are.

    I take issue with one part of this post, Pols: I have not seen a single Republican make either a rational, or even a very forceful case against health care. They try to be forceful and they sound ridiculous, and it can never be rational.

    LB, GOPwarrior, Beej, this is your chance to save your party’s honor. Why HCR should be repealed in 500 words, rational and convincing and with facts. Do it and make me a liar once and for all.

      1. I should pay attention to these things.

        Does this apply to all of them? I promise to try extra hard not to insult LB if he gives something more than his typical one line acerbic bullshit answer.

        Ok, that was it. I promise to be nice now.

          1. There’s nothing he loves more than responses. I absolutely delight in the idea of not responding to him and starving him of the one thing he seeks here–someone to play with.  

                1. Sorry, must have misconstrued your comment right above mine where you speculate there’s “nothing he loves more than responses.” Semantics, I guess.

                  1. (This isn’t helping!) over my comment to Ralph. My mistake. I’ll try and refrain from replying to you in the future to keep things simpler for both of us.  

      1. It deserves a few more. Obamacare has done nothing but raise the deficit, increase premiums, and force doctors out of business. All that, and it doesn’t even cover everyone anyway. Much like the stimulus, it is a waste of money on an ineffective, inefficient government program that just makes things worse.

        Links as requested-

        Raises the deficit:

        http://sweetness-light.com/arc…

        http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/114…

        http://blog.heritage.org/2010/…

        Increases premiums:

        http://articles.latimes.com/20…

        http://moneywatch.bnet.com/ret…

        http://www.reuters.com/article…

        http://www.heritage.org/resear…

        http://online.wsj.com/article/…

        Forces doctors out of business:

        http://www.reuters.com/article…

        http://www.examiner.com/libert…

        Oh, and here’s how it kills jobs:

        http://www.heritage.org/resear…

        And finally, lest we reduce the very real destruction of health care to merely numbers and statistics, testimony from an actual doctor:

        So yes, you are a liar once and for all.

        1. so the beej-free day is over.

          Non-partisan links are required. So most of these are struck right off the list. (Heritage Foundation – really, beej?)

          For the actual news links, they’re just reports on partisan claims. Hardly objective studies. (BTW, did you notice that moneywatch article about raising premiums didn’t mention HCR at all? Correlation is not causation.)

          Finally, that CBO document does not say it will raise the deficit.

          This is one of your most spectacular failures ever, beejy-boy.

          /slow clapping

            1. For the actual news links, they’re just reports on partisan claims.

              Reuters falls under this heading.

              As to your follow-up, the no-partisan linking is just for fairness’ sake. Michael Moore and Keith Olbermann sometimes have their facts, too, but I know you won’t accept them. (Let’s not include anything from Heritage Foundation – their credibility is the same as tobacco company doctors who said cigarettes don’t cause cancer.)

          3. just because an organization is right of center, you can’t discount the facts presented therein out of hand. In fact, articles on those sites are more likely to be well sourced and fact based.

    4. And you still haven’t done justice to JeffcoBlue’s challenge. Just remember, be honest, no mindless talking points from your media masters, nor gratuitous use of “Obamacare” instead of “Dolecare”. Prove you can do better than Boener and buddies in (shudder) Washington. It shouldn’t be difficult.

      1. You know, the big fat one with the video? Here’s another one to help you out. It has a big chart with pretty colors to help you understand.

        Case closed. No, you don’t get to dismiss GOP legislators (which, if you hadn’t noticed, are the majority now, got it?) simply because they do not belong to the party of Obama.

    5. I searched the Pols archives for the most cogent and convincing Republican arguments against HCR that this troica has made to date, they are:

      “Nope.”

      “LOL.”

      and,

      “Bwahaha.”

      No need for the actual miscreants’ responses.  

    6. There are a couple of valid arguments conservatives bring up for repealing HC.

      1. The free market tends to do better than the government in providing services. So the best solution is one that makes the market more competitive and then leaves providers to compete for your business.

      2. The government that governs best, governs least. The larger the hand of government in our lives, the less free we are and the less productive we are.

      And the thing is, both are good points. Where they fail is when they are followed as absolutes with no allowance for the facts on the ground.

  2. And Rep. Coffman, and Rep. Gardner, and Rep. Lamborn, for upholding the Constitution and freedom of choice. The government has taken control of almost 20% of the U.S. economy and ObamaCare must be stopped. After this, watch for the pieces to be starved into oblivion one by one.

    Replace Obama’s monstrosity with real market based reforms, just like Tipton says.

    1. The Defense industry?

      The Government hasn’t “taken control” of anything lately.  In fact, it’s been giving away control of things it should keep within its own power, such as an increasing number of military functions.

      If you mean the health care industry, your statement is a joke.  No doctors, hospitals, or insurance companies suddenly work for the government because of the new law.  Individuals and companies still pay for the health care of working America.  Even most Medicare and Medicaid money is spent on private health services – and is often administered by private insurance intermediaries.

      Statements like yours are the reason people like me have problems taking the concerns of conservatives seriously.

      1. If you regulate every aspect of a private business to the point that they can no longer make any decision without approval from Washington, the government has taken over that business in all but name. That is what 65% of physicians in America are afraid of according to this Reuters survey.

        Would you like to talk about the survey I linked to?

        2. http://www.hcplexus.com/survey

          You linked to a Wall Street Journal opinion blog below in a different thread  that mentions this, so I presume this is what you mean.

          I will –

          HCPlexus surveyed just under 3000 physicians, but made no attempt to randomly select respondents.   As a provider of  unreimbursed services to physicians, and an avowed supporter of market based solutions, it is not surprising that   HCPlexus conducted a survey more likely to elicit responses from respondents who support market solutions.

          Said another way – I’m shocked, shocked I tell you, that a profit generator that insurance doesn’t pay for would suggest that what we need for better health care outcomes is more profit margin for doctors.  Shocked.

          1. the survey polled every single doctor in America…

            65% of physicians in America

            Why do 65% of American doctors think…

            I am not a pollster or statistician, but I think s/he overstates the case…

            As MADCO notes, the source is dubious to start, and the claim at most could only be made that 65% of respondents…I mean, could only be made with credibility.  

             

          1. I am free to drive my car, but not free to drive it into a crowd of people. I am free to choose my health care, but not free to deny life to another person.

            You can keep trying to make two different things equivalent, but that doesn’t make it so.

            1. and suddenly decide you’re the first person who’s ever really understood freedom, except of course for Rand herself, who would probably really enjoy getting your perspective?

              I remember knowing lots of kids who talked like this in middle/high school.

    3. You’ve proven you can cut ‘n paste the usual Republican’t Talking points, and they’re as silly and empty as they were in the election.

      What’s a market-based reform?  What real, concrete, “even the lib’ruls can follow along” plan that the GOP will immediately put into place after they successfully repeal HRC are you talking about.

      Bonus question: explain how FedEx and UPS survive in the face of the gov’t takeover of mail delivery…

      1. ..so, by extension, I pronounce ArapaGOP another conservative shrieking dumbass.

        Just a quick note – the Republican plan was “Repeal and Replace.” Where’s the Replace part of the plan?

      1. Seems a pertinent one since my tax dollars are directly providing him health care as part of his benefits package as a Representative. Why should he have the benefit of public health care but the rest of us don’t deserve the same courtesy?  

                1. I don’t think Republicans oppose an employer subsidizing health care, it’s the system we’ve had for decades. I’m asking you if you disagree that Tipton should be excluded from that, just because he opposes the very different ObamaCare.

                  I’m sorry, I’m not trying to talk past you, though that does seem to be happening.

                  1. I’m trying to do 3 things at once and doing none of them well, including blogging.

                    To answer your question, no, I do not think he should be excluded, not if he wants to opt into his public subsidized, tax payer sponsored health care.

                    For example, he’ll never be excluded for a pre-existing condition with his Congressional healthcare packet but he’s willing to repeal that and deny others the same benefits he’s so readily willing to accept.

                    I just think it makes him a bit of a hypocrite if he chooses to accept it while he tries to deny 30 million Americans similar coverage by attempting to repeal broad swaths of the HCR bill.

                    1. Nobody’s trying to tell him where to get his insurance.  We just want him to tell US whether we’re paying for it.

                      And he doesn’t want to.

                  2. Congressionals have the privilege of opting out of their government controlled, tax subsidized health care. Why hasn’t Tipton? If Republicans are so concerned about governmental control and “socialist” programs, why don’t you demand that all our representatives reject this dangerous takeover of “the free market”? Answer: hypocricy. Your beloved Republican “Obamacare” repealers are making fools of themselves baring their hypocricy to the whole nation. And you’re doing your share, exposing your own. I’d never demand that Tipton give up a very valuable benefit of his position, but the fact that he doesn’t just screams, “I’m just another Republican hypocrite!”

              2. Rep. Tipton owns or is part owner w/family of a private business in Cortez where I have spent a considerable amount of money over the last 20 years.  I suspect they have health insurance he could continue to use and not spend tax dollars for his health care.

          2. are silly.  My family doctor and two specialists we see from time to time all have thought it’s time to join the 21st century with sensible single payer for years, since before Obama was elected.  Does that mean all doctors want it?  

            We already pay half again to twice as much as citizens of any other modern state for health care with poorer results for the average citizen. And, since this isn’t Somalia, we already have universal healthcare.  We treat the uncovered in ORs instead of letting them die in the streets and we all pay for it.  In fact we pay much more than we would if we didn’t have the most expensive, least efficient universal healthcare system on earth.

            Only logical solution?  Either drop US style universal healthcare and let anyone who can’t pay die or, if we don’t have the stomach for that, we adapt a sensible universal healthcare plan.  Maybe like Australia’s. Since everyone needs and uses healthcare at some point, you have a public plan but can you opt out of the public one if you prove that you are paying for a private plan. Choice and nobody gets to force the rest of us to pick up the inflated ER tab.

          1. The polls was conducted last year via fax. Doctors are busy people and probably don’t tend to have time to do a survey that is faxed to them unless they are highly motivated, which tends to lead to a biased sample size. The poll does not state how many doctors this faxed survey was sent to. So like most polls out there hard to take it seriously.

            My poll of two doctors gives me a 100% we love the new Health Care Reform law.  

      3. I’m a taxpayer who would be subsidizing Tipton’s generous health insurance if he’s enrolling for it. Why should he have access and then have the nerve to deny his constituents access?

        Second, what do local doctors have to do with whether Tipton is luxuriating in federal health care?

          1. …if it were on David Chestnut’s page? BTW, by your logic you are a proven Pols liar unless your real name is MADCO, which I highly doubt. Your parents would have had to have a sick sense of humor.

  5. By definition, if we manage to reduce the money we spend on HC, that will reduce the number of jobs in the HC industry, and reduce the income of many who work in it – including doctors.

    That would be a good thing. Anyone who opposes HCR because everyone in the HC industry wants to keep their income, that’s a valid honest approach – that puts the financial interests of that industry before the best interests of everyone else.

  6. Every single House Republican voted today to repeal health care reform, adding an estimated $230 billion to the deficit over the next ten years, raising the cost of insurance to small businesses by an estimated $855 billion over the same period and lowering job growth by 250,000 to 400,000 private sector jobs per year as a result, should (by some weird twist of fate) the Senate and President follow their lead.

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