Image: Courtesy of Steve Kagen
One of the first things U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen (D–Wisc.) did when he took office last year was to nix his congressional health care coverage. The move stunned a human resources staffer, who, the lawmaker says, looked at him as though he were insane.
"I'll respectfully decline until you can make that same offer for all of my constituents," he says he told her, explaining his decision to turn down what many say is the Cadillac of U.S. health plans.
Kagen, 58, is now one of millions of Americans, including at least nine million children, without health insurance. "I have absolutely no health coverage at all," he told ScientificAmerican.com during a recent interview. "I have no health conditions and am pretty darn healthy." And if he gets sick? "I'd be just like the 47 [million] to 50 million American citizens who don't have coverage," he says, "and I'd have to negotiate with hospitals and doctors for the best-priced coverage."
Until he took office, Kagen, a successful allergist with offices in Appleton and Green Bay, was on the other side of such negotiations. He is now one of nine physicians who traded in their stethoscopes for a House seat—and the only member of Congress to refuse coverage.
Kagen's seemingly brazen act was part of his health care reform strategy. In February he introduced the "No Discrimination in Health Insurance Act of 2008" (H.R. 5449), which would bar insurance companies from hiking rates or denying coverage for preexisting medical conditions. "Nowhere in the Constitution does it say you have a protected right to health care," he says. "But the reverse is more important. You can't be discriminated against because of the color of your skin or your sex, nor because of diseases such as hypertension or diabetes."
His goal: to make health insurance affordable for everyone—and make sure that nobody is left out in the cold. He feels it is crucial to have a federal standard on the books to replace the patchwork of state insurance regulations. "Simply put, if you're a citizen, you're in," he says. "We have federal standards in America for everything ... except the one thing we value most, and that is our health."
In an effort to keep a lid on soaring insurance premiums, Kagen's proposal calls for insurance companies to disclose all of their rates. Such a move, he says, would prevent patients from being hit with hidden costs and stir competition that would, theoretically, drive down prices. He says his own analysis shows that the combination of competition and blanket eligibility could cut people's insurance expenses by as much as 20 percent.
But that's still too high a tab for many financially strapped U.S. families. The question is: How are those people going to foot the bill? Not sure, says Kagen, whose legislation does not propose setting aside any federal funds. The key reason, he says, is that there are no reliable stats on such costs.
Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., pushing for affordable health care for all Americans, calls the measure "a step in the right direction," but notes that ultimately the feds need "to extend public programs or provide subsidies, such as refundable tax credits or some other means" to have truly universal health coverage.
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7 Comments
Add CommentRarely is it ever discussed how physicians salaries have soared against other professions over the last century. Circa WWII, physicians made about what engineers made. Now? Physicians use the "but I spent so much time on my educaton" argument. Most people buy that on its face, and yet the people who do the research that tell physicians what they need to do make poverty wages, and they spend much more time on their graduate education.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is just one aspect of the health care problem. Another is cited in the article - the silent tax of the uninsured.
The other major leg of the problem is that we use more and more expensive procedures on people with less and less to gain, and less to give back to the world.
I get increasingly irritated at the general malaise exhibited by various politicos that the uninsured in this country is not a problem for us to address in a big way. Reading any social history before the 1930s one is constantly reminded that the "Well To Do" were not immune to diseases commonly associated with the "Lower Classes". Franklin D. Roosevelt as one notable example; who because he was a victim, devoted so much to the eradication of Polio. Will it take another Pandemic or Pandemics for the "Haves" to realize that lack of proper hygiene & medical care is not exclusively a problem for the "Havenots"? Representative Kagen's gesture won't make headlines, and may be perceived by many to seem foolish. But at least He's demonstrating a real sincerity to address the problem.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would like to note that for many years (about 20) I was uninsured and paid [b]much[/b] more for my health care per visit than I do as an insured person - the insurance company bargains down the price for me now. For one - this seems terribly unfair - the people who can't afford insurance end up having to pay more for health care, which they can now afford even less. Second - there are no claims to file for an uninsured person - just saving on office paperwork should entitle them to a small discount. Third, I always felt like it was ME supporting the lower prices that insurance companies pay when I, impoverished single mother, paid full price - and I always paid what I owed. I really think the insurance companies and the medical providers take advantage of people in the most vulnerable circumstances by charging them substantially more, and then blame them, recently me, for increases in health care and insurance costs.Together, they maneuvers the poor into being a convenient scapegoat and argument for mandatory coverage...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOn a happier note, I did learn during my long tenure in poverty to take very good care of my health, grow my own healthy food and give up expensive and unhealthy habits - a silver lining worth it's weight in gold :)
To think doctors didn't even go to college in the 1800s, they went to Medical Schools. Around the turn of the Twentieth Century their salaries paled in comparison to Mechanics (read Engineers in todays language) working for the Railroads. In the Military there was a phrase; "the sick, lame & lazy" for those that frequently went to "Sick Bay" as a way to shame those that weren't really that sick. But at least there was a threshold, one COULD get care if they really needed it. Maybe with "Universal Healthcare" we can at last redefine what role doctors should be playing in our society.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is not a Health Plan, it is just regulation for insurance providers. Nor do Obama/Hillary Clinton have a health plan, all they want is to make insurance mandatory so those of us who spend half of our salary in rent and gas will have to shed $300 or more every month for something that we rarely use.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe only plan that will work is one similar to those used in developed countries like Canada or in Europe. It is a SINGLE PAYER/MANAGED plan. Check the College of Physicians website (http://www.acponline.org/)and query "health insurance single payer".
I appreciate Representative Kagen's caring gesture. But my husband and I,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisalong with millions of other Americans are living a nightmare--not by choice. It is unimaginable to be in the vortex of a falling stock market, no pension plan and paying $500/mo. for health care. I keep hoping someone has an answer for seniors and other troubled Americans. But, as I listen to the political debated, it seems to be business as usual--nothing but a lot of talk. My hope and prayer is things will turn around before too, many more people go under financially. I am in a stupor living out these last years of
my life.
As an Australian I cannot believe the richest country in the world dosen't have universal health care for ALL its citizens. In Australia any and every citizen of the country can be admitted to any hospital as a public patient for any condition and be treated at NO cost to themselves. Even doctors and specialist appointment can be free. Why is there even any agument about having a FREE system. Seems to me that people with vested interest (ie some of the richest in the rich country)are maipulating the US population via the media to maintain a system against the benifit of the common citizen.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLook carefully at what you vote for.