Tipton’s health care fixes won’t work
By blaming the Affordable Care Act for our current national healthcare malaise at the Garfield County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner at the Hotel Colorado on Feb. 21,, Third District Congressman Scott Tipton revealed he has no idea how to remedy the system.
Politicians of Tipton’s ilk seem to think the free market economy is a cure-all for every problem we have in this country. A while back, Garfield County Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said the solution to the looming climate crisis was to allow the natural forces of business to take their course.
That’s how we got in this mess to begin with. Exxon-Mobile scientists told the board of directors about the dangers of extracting and consuming their product in the 1970s. Did they tell the world and immediately switch to renewables? Hell no. They kept it a secret and continued to drill and sell fossil fuels willy-nilly. That may have been the free market action to take, but it hardly served the common good.
It’s the same with the health care system. The reason we needed the Affordable Care Act is the insurance companies, the ultimate capitalistic predators, were deliberately keeping health care costs high so that all but the very rich had to have policies.
Tipton complains his Third District constituents must pay higher insurance premiums than those on the Front Range. Who decides what those charges will be? The government? Again, hell no. The insurance companies set the rates. That’s one of the concessions President Obama had to make to get the ACA passed. Big Insurance hooks sink in deep in Washington.
At the GOP dinner, Tipton bragged about voting to repeal and replace the ACA and vowed the fight to get rid of it wasn’t over. To hell with the 20 million people who have health insurance that didn’t have it before the ACA and to hell with those with preexisting conditions who couldn’t get coverage before.
Insurance companies don’t like to give policies to those who might make a claim. That’s your free market system as well. A universal, single-payer health care system will rid those in need of medical care of the oppression of the insurance companies. Tipton’s likely opponent this November’s election, Diana Mitsch Bush, supports such a plan.
Fred Malo Jr.
Carbondale
Glenwood should have a population ceiling
How lucky we are to live in such a cool place. We have so much to be thankful for.
A friend of mine came up with this great idea. To maintain our quality of life in Glenwood, we must come up with a population ceiling (maximum people). A ceiling that would be voted upon. Once a number is reached, no new housing developments would be allowed. Critical materials and replacements would be exempt.
We can do this because we have a great economy. Tourism, thriving small businesses, restaurants, hotels, motels, car dealerships, three big box stores, etc. We are not dependent upon growth.
We want to take back our town. Left up to City Council and the 2% special development interest, we will be elbow to elbow, bumper to bumper, like the Hot Springs Pool in summer. A population ceiling would be a big step, but it be great being one of the only towns in the U.S. that has said, “Enough is enough. We are full.”
Michael Hoban
Glenwood Springs
