President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) J. Sonnenberg

(R) Ted Harvey

20%↑

15%↑

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

(R) Doug Bruce

20%

20%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

 

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

40%↑

20%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
February 23, 2011 09:31 PM UTC

Putting Your Worst Foot Forward, "Dr." Janak Joshi Edition

  • 25 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

As the Durango Herald’s Joe Hanel reports:

Another major part of former Gov. Bill Ritter’s legacy survived Tuesday when a House Republican backed away from his bill to repeal a large fee on hospitals…

Colorado hospitals actually worked hard to get the medical fee passed in 2009, when Ritter was governor, because the approximately $600 million fee draws matching money from the federal government. It is projected to add 100,000 people to the rolls of government-sponsored insurance plans, such as Medicaid.

The scheme increases hospital revenue and reduces the amount of charity care hospitals give to uninsured patients.

Rep. Janak Joshi, R-Colorado Springs, saw the fee as a tax illegally passed without a vote of the people.

“In Colorado, we spell ‘tax’ as ‘fee,’ and I kind of felt someone needs to use their spellcheck a little better,” Joshi said.

We’re more than a little baffled here. Make no mistake, we certainly knew that Republicans were going to take a run at former Gov. Bill Ritter’s 2009 hospital provider fee, despite the fact that it was supported by the hospitals paying the fee, and directly results in matched federal funding that would be lost if repealed. All of that is what it is.

Our question is a little simpler: why the hell would you ever put Rep. Janak Joshi in charge of legislation pertaining to medicine?

Some of you may not have been paying attention last September, when media outlets (including this blog) reported on a treasure trove of research on legislative candidates that suddenly appeared in email inboxes. Among the damaging information in these files were records of Joshi being sued for wrongful death, and later for negligence. In 2006, Joshi was admonished by State Board of Medical Examiners for failing to properly evaluate and adequately treat a patient, as well as failing to adequately document the patient’s treatment.  In the letter, Joshi admitted he engaged in conduct that “fails to meet generally accepted standards for medical practice.”

Joshi was ordered to undergo an assessment at the Center for Personalized Education for Physicians, and the center recommended he retrain. On December 12, 2007, the Board of Medical Examiners suspended his medical license for failing to take this prescribed retraining. In August of 2008, Janak Joshi was forced to surrender his medical license.

Forunately for Joshi, he was able to trade the salutation “Rep.” for “Dr.” last November!

We realize a number of you–including, we guess, a majority of voters in Rep. Joshi’s HD-14–are probably just now figuring out that this is why he calls himself a “retired” doctor on his campaign website. Oops! Hopefully, whoever thought Joshi was anything close to an appropriate choice to carry this bill is now aware, too, and will find somebody else next time.

Comments

25 thoughts on “Putting Your Worst Foot Forward, “Dr.” Janak Joshi Edition

  1. The argument Rep. Joshi is making is very sound and consistent with the arguments against many other fee hikes passed by Democrats. They are all reliant on the absurd ruling by the liberal Supreme Court saying fee hikes are not “taxes.”

    Remove that fiction, and many of the Democrat hikes in the last few years are illegal.

    That’s the fact. Now, back to smearing Janak Joshi!

    1. already decided that there’s really no such thing as money; that it’s merely another matter-state of free speech incarnate?  While you’re removing fictions . . . why not start with the classics?

      (Just like you GOPers . . . always trying to limit the collection of some free speech.)

      Now can we return to the utter stupidity of Joshi’s bill?

    2. Fees are paid by people who actually use the services.

      Taxes are paid by everybody.

      You trying to get something for nothing?  Freeload off the rest of us?

      What are you, some kind of socialist?

    3. You may think so, but it’s the law. That’s the way our system works. And so every time the Republicans argue that a fee is a tax they are FACTUALLY WRONG!  

      1. what are you going to believe the facts as defined by the law or your own lying heart?

        I think the R’s are quite effective at never letting facts get in the way of a good political talking point.

      2. That the voters of this state retained the three justices who were up and and voted that fees were not taxes.  Sorry, ArapGOP, as usual, you are on the wrong side of the people.  We think that a fee is not a tax.  If you wanted a fee to be included in TABOR, you should have talked to Douglas Bruce 20 years ago when he was putting this thing together.

    4. Since when is it a character assassination to factually describe someone’s bio?

      Clinton had sex with an intern.

      Not a character assasination.

      Reagan raised taxes.

      Reagan/Bush conducted illegal arms deals with Iran.

      Carter was a one-termer.

    5. if it’s just the plain facts. One can only imagine what your take would be if this guy a had a D in from front of his name and was pushing pro-pot legalization legislation, Arap.

    6. 4 fux sake Joshi’s own incompetence likely killed someone!  WTF kind of apologist R U?  

      It isn’t just rumor or innuendo and it wasn’t just malpractice — it was death.

      Only the willfully ignorant would believe the state boards take licensing so lightly.  R U really that ignorant A?    

      1. Sometimes mistakes happen.  Doctors are human too.  Some outstanding doctors have accidentally and unintentionally killed people.  Your comment is just stupid.  The licensing board didn’t revoke his license because he killed someone.  Indeed, they allowed him to continue to practice if he got additional training.  It’s not at all unusual for an older doctor to simply acquiese in the removal of his license under these types of circumstances.  Don’t know whether this guy is old, but to relinquish a license isn’t unusual if they are old.  I know, my father (at age 78) relinquished his license due to a dispute over Medicaid billing.

        1. weighing in while knowing nothing about Joshi but drawing wide ranging conclusions (“yo, he might have been old”), let’s go with some facts, shall we?

          He wasn’t old. He was 55 at the time. He was cited for failing to properly evaluate, adequately treat and failure to provide adequate documentation of the patient and his treatment.

          His license was suspended after he failed to take retraining in nephrology in 2007. In 2008, he was forced by the state medical board to surrender his medical license permanently.

          You really want to stick up for this guy? Knock yourself out. Me? I’ll go with the facts.

           

  2. His bill to relieve Coloradoans of the $.07 fee to help low-income people have basic phone service just died in committee.

    Darn it, I had already planed on how I was going to spend the $.84 I could save….  

  3. I have two Doctors in my family – no one is perfect, but people give their best

    Dr Joshi is a wonderful person and close friend – he has confronted the mistakes committed, and I very much take him at his honest word, when he speaks to his resolution of the problems  

      1. Or he’s just conceding that he doesn’t have what it takes to be a good doctor, or simply doesn’t want to be a doctor anymore (i.e., mid-life crisis).  

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

174 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!