Why I Declined My Congressional Health Coverage

[babylonsister]

Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-steve-kagen/why-i-declined-my-congres_b_54338.html


Why I Declined My Congressional Health Coverage

Posted June 29, 2007 | 11:20 AM (EST)

As a physician and medical scientist, I know something about Band-Aids. You have to clean the wound first if you really want it to heal. A little strip of adhesive glue and gauze is not going to get the job done.

As a Congressman, I have learned that Band-Aids are what politicians are using to "fix" our nation's broken health care delivery system. But you don't have to be a doctor or a Congressman to understand that Band-Aids can't fix a fracture.

That's why I declined to accept the health care insurance offer from Congress. Plainly put, I will not accept health insurance coverage until everyone I represent in Wisconsin and across America is given the same opportunity. After all, I did not run for this office to get health care benefits.

I ran to change Washington and to guarantee access to affordable care for every citizen, everywhere in these United States.

Since voters sent me to Capitol Hill last November, I've been working hard to leverage support for a new approach. My purpose is not to destroy profit centers in medicine, as some insurance industry allies will falsely argue, but to allow everyone to benefit from the efficient delivery of affordable care in a transparent and competitive marketplace.

more...

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Now that's a good guy

[SoCalDem]

8. as a physician, he no doubt has "professional courtesy"

anyway.. But the message is still a good one

[knitter4democracy]

14. No such thing anymore.

Professional courtesy gets him in earlier, but he'll still get a bill. Hubby tried once when he was in residency and was turned down flat. We have crap insurance and pay for everything until we meet the deductible and then still pay co-pays and a percentage of the scrips.

[formercia]

20. Let's throw some of these lawyer congress critters to the Sharks

and see if they get a 'professional courtesy.'

[ceile]

2. Hopefully other reps will follow suit.

But somehow I doubt it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. Wow!

:wow: :applause: All should do that. Good enough for them, but not for the rest of us? Why not?

[Vincardog]

5. Because we can not afford to buy our way into "elected" office?

[aquart]

4. We should ALL run for Congress to get healthcare benefits.

THAT might scare them into doing something.

[ljm2002]

15. Now that is a great idea!

Every state has signature requirements. But what is to stop a whole movement of people who are willing to provide each other with the required number of signatures... Okay okay there are some logistical problems... But still, I can just see a dictionary-thick voting pamphlet with hundreds of candidates for every office that provides healthcare... Okay fine. Maybe it would make a good movie. :-)

[Zywiec]

6. Obviously he has the money to do this

His family will still use doctors, but pay the full rate.

[babylonsister]

10. Maybe he treats his family; he's a doc. nt

[Zywiec]

11. That's great !

I'm sure his wife doesn't mind getting into the stirrups and his dentistry must be wonderful.

[babylonsister]

13. I don't know that stirrups would be a problem, but

you got me at dentist. Hell, I have NO idea what kind of doc he is.

[knitter4democracy]

16. No can do.

Hubby helps out with my care purely as a second opinion--everything goes through my internist first. He sometimes writes a scrip if it's the weekend and I can't get a hold of anyone, but he only does it if it's a refill that's run out. I have to beg him to look at the kids' throats or lymph nodes, and he only does that as a decision on whether to take them to the doctor or not.

It's part of the ethics code: doctors can't treat family, and it can even get a hospital to deny privileges.

[Spazito]

7. Wow, imagine if all the Democrats in the Senate and the House

did the same, for the same reasons stated so elequently by Congressman Kagen. I have no doubt no republicans will do the same which would then be glaring as to who actually cares about the public and who doesn't. Would make a powerful ad, imo.

[dragonlady]

9. Wisconsinites really want to keep Kagen in Congress

He changed the balance to 5-3 for the Dems when he was elected in 2006. I first heard him speak at the Democratic convention in 2005 and was impressed that he was the most passionate about health care of the candidates running in the primary. He's a doctor and knows how bad our present system is.

Dr. Steve spent a lot of his own money getting elected to his first term, but he can't do that every time. The next election is going to be even tougher than the first. The Republicans are pissed about losing and will throw everything they can against him (and we don't have a Senate election next year). His opponent is already running again. If anyone has a few dollars to help us maintain our advantage in Wisconsin and keep the doctor in the House, here's the link to his campaign website: www.stevekagen.org.

[Big Blue Marble]

12. While I commend Rep. Kagen's position on not taking his congressional

health insurance plan, I am disturbed by his statement: "My purpose is not to destroy profit centers in medicine, as some insurance industry allies will falsely argue, but to allow everyone to benefit from the efficient delivery of affordable care in a transparent and competitive marketplace." The only way real
health care reform will happen is if we remove the insurance companies from the mix. The only way this will happen is if the people of this country
come to understand that corporate profits must be removed from the system.

[slipslidingaway]

18. Maybe he meant that he does not want to take the level

of doctor's salaries down too much, otherwise people would look at another profession.

My daughter starts medical school in August and will have some large loans to repay in the future.

:shrug:

[Big Blue Marble]

21. Maybe so, but since he mentioned the insurance companies

he was probably thinking of the insurance lobby. Do not want to upset one of the most powerful lobbies in the country.
I support good incomes for those who work in health care. Your daughter will make a major investment of her time and
financial resources and does deserve to be well-compensated when she begins practice. It is the insurance company
interference that will most likely be her greatest challenge and limit her ability to make a good income.

[slipslidingaway]

23. Reading the link at Huffington I believe you are correct in your

suspicions, thanks for the reply.

"Here's how.

Open Disclosure of all health care-related prices

Unitary Pricing so everyone gets the same discount and pays the same price for the same product or service

Form a Single Insurance Risk Pool to leverage down insurance prices for all citizens

Deductibles set at three percent of a household's taxable federal income, and

A Renewed Commitment to Cover all uninsured children and working parents."

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. A state senator in MO declined his coverage

when the state took Medicaid away from 100,000 people.

[RufusEarl]

19. Well he's thinking and for me that's important, compassion is a wonderful thing.

[warren pease]

22. "My purpose is not to destroy profit centers in medicine..."

Unfortunately, that's exactly how you fix this hideous system. Relying on the market to fix it is naive beyond comment. The market is precisely how we got into this situation in the first place. The market says health care is a privilege, not a right. The market says rich people tend to recover from disease and injury, while the poor tend to die from the exact same conditions.

An old Tufts University public health study revealed a truly disgusting but intuitive stat: The single greatest health risk factor in the US is poverty. Not drugs or alcohol, not smoking, not genetic predisposition, not dangerous jobs or sports... just simple, grinding, multi-generational poverty.

Yet Rep. Kagan, along with all Dem presidential candidates except Kucinich, advocate for "expanded insurance" and "increased coverage," which is just code for "let's let the for-profit parasites, the single most destructive element in the present disaster, participate in HealthCare 2.0, just to see how quickly and thoroughly they can fuck this system up, too."

And they *will* fuck up anything they touch. That's because in the US a for-profit public company's sole responsibility is to maximize return on investment for its shareholders. That's per corporate governance law and enforced by the SEC. And they can get sued if they can't demonstrate their devotion to increasing shareholder equity. Because paying the bills for subscribers is directly contrary to the best interests of shareholders, insurance companies and for-profit medical facilities skimp, redefine, obstruct, obfuscate and generally chisel their way out of payment whenever possible.

That's hardly surprising; in fact, that's exactly what they should be doing to meet their fiduciary responsibilities. It's called "prudent business practices" and is a given throughout corporate America. Expecting a for-profit, publicly held corporation to behave otherwise would be like expecting a shark to go vegan.

So when you see the sharks having qualms of conscience over their former lives of murderous predation, that's about the time you can expect a fair, market-based, for-profit health care system to emerge in this country. Until then, it's either single-payer or empty your wallets. And then look under the couch pillows for some quarters to help with the copays.


wp

[farmboxer]

24. But CNN claims Americans are happy with our heathcare....

Anderson Cooper, "Keeping them honest", yea, who is keeping CNN honest! We The People have experienced the insurance companies/drug companies, healthcare system in Amerika! Heil Bush!

Only the rich are happy....but a few care about the poor/middleclass! Lies, lies and more lies!

The truth to a Republican is like a cross to a vampire! Anderson Cooper is repeating crap over and over again! Kevin Trudeau told the truth!

[ConsAreLiars]

25. Righteous, but totally misguided.

Kudos to him for wanting equality for all, but what a fool to think that letting the profit motive continue to control health care services is part of the solution. "My purpose is not to destroy profit centers in medicine, as some insurance industry allies will falsely argue..." Nice heart, but a sadly deluded head.

(edit to add)
I also notice he dropped a couple million bucks into his own campaign, roughly twice all other sources, so I suspect free and universal health care with profit motive taken out is something he will never advocate or need. Not much of a sacrifice, just meaningless posturing.