No Waiting For Steve Kagen

From the Green Bay Press.
The health care perk Steve Kagen gets that you can't have and never will.

"Lawmakers have pick of health-care options
Kagen declined plan until all Americans can have it

By LARRY BIVINS • Press-Gazette Washington Bureau lbivins@greenbaypressgazette.com • October 23, 2009

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen had been in office just a few days in 2007 when a government worker presented him with what he calls "a cafeteria" of health insurance options." Lawmakers have pick of health-care options | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press-Gazette

The doctor-turned-politician said the several pages of documents included more insurance choices than he'd ever seen. He declined to sign up for any of them.

"As soon as you can make that same offer to everyone I represent, I'll consider it," Kagen said he told the government worker.

So Steve Kagen turned down the insurance, it's a good sound bite for a campaign ad.

And for an additional annual fee of $503, lawmakers have access to government-subsidized primary care, specialists and treatment at the area's top military hospitals through the Office of the Attending Physician.

What's this for $503?

That choice gives federal employees power other Americans don't have, Moffitt said.

Really, Choice?

Kagen, D-Appleton, is one of three Wisconsin members of Congress — Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, and Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Milwaukee, are the other two — not enrolled in the federal program. Rep. Tom Petri, R-Fond du Lac, is covered under the program but chose not to pay for the Office of the Attending Physician service.

See here how Larry Bivins from the GBP throws you a loop. It sounds like nobody goes to the Office of the Attending Physician service. He writes "not enrolled in the federal program" to make you believe Kagen isn't in the program.  Really Larry?

So when Kagen underwent knee surgery last winter, he paid the more than $4,000 bill out of his own pocket. For his physical therapy, he said, he went to the House gym, where he pays $240 to $260 a year.

Larry, how could you print this? Went to the gym for 240 bucks? Kagen went to the Office of the Attending Physician service for health care. People, people, people Larry and the press are trying to hide Steve Kagen's government health care that you don't have!

Kagen said a recent ABC report saying he used the attending physician's office for rehab was based on a misunderstanding.

Larry, call him on this! He paid $503, went to the Attending Physician service and was treated! He lied right to the reporter and the reporter went dahhhhhhhhhh

The Office of the Attending Physician is a significant perk for lawmakers, Sepp acknowledged.

"The ability to be able to walk into a military hospital in the D.C. area and receive care is a big plus," Sepp said. "It's not like members have to sit in a waiting room."

Steve Kagen gets a perk that no one else can get and he says it was a misunderstanding. let's repeat what Sepp just said. "It's not like members have to sit in a waiting room." Larry, and the rest of the media, how can you cover for Steve Kagen?

Be a great T V spot, a shot of the door of the Office of the Attending Physician and Kagen in his own voice says, "As soon as you can make that same offer to everyone I represent, I'll consider it," Then take the clip from ABC with Kagen taking the health coverage. Link to ABC article and video of Kagen. The people of the 8th district will figure this out. Where is a conservative candidate? No RINO's welcome.

The entire article from the Green Bay Press.

Lawmakers have pick of health-care options
Kagen declined plan until all Americans can have it

By LARRY BIVINS • Press-Gazette Washington Bureau lbivins@greenbaypressgazette.com • October 23, 2009

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen had been in office just a few days in 2007 when a government worker presented him with what he calls "a cafeteria" of health insurance options.

The doctor-turned-politician said the several pages of documents included more insurance choices than he'd ever seen. He declined to sign up for any of them.

"As soon as you can make that same offer to everyone I represent, I'll consider it," Kagen said he told the government worker.

During the intense debate over how to reform the nation's $2.4 trillion health-care system to provide affordable choices and extend coverage to about 46 million uninsured Americans, one question has been why members of Congress can't offer everyone the same coverage they have.

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program is indeed a smorgasbord of options, 300 in all, available to the entire federal work force, which includes the 535 members of Congress. A majority of lawmakers are enrolled in a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, according to the Congressional Research Service.

"All the plans have catastrophic coverage — so you don't have to worry about losing your house — and a basic benefits package," said Robert Moffitt, director of the Center for Health Care Policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation and a former health official in the Reagan administration.

And for an additional annual fee of $503, lawmakers have access to government-subsidized primary care, specialists and treatment at the area's top military hospitals through the Office of the Attending Physician.

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program is a "defined contribution system, so it's very different from what most Americans get," Moffit said. "That means the government makes a contribution on your behalf to the health-care plan of your choice."

That choice gives federal employees power other Americans don't have, Moffitt said.

"If you don't like your insurance plan, you can do what nobody else in American can do: You can fire them," he said.

Kagen, D-Appleton, is one of three Wisconsin members of Congress — Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, and Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Milwaukee, are the other two — not enrolled in the federal program. Rep. Tom Petri, R-Fond du Lac, is covered under the program but chose not to pay for the Office of the Attending Physician service.

So when Kagen underwent knee surgery last winter, he paid the more than $4,000 bill out of his own pocket. For his physical therapy, he said, he went to the House gym, where he pays $240 to $260 a year.

Kagen said a recent ABC report saying he used the attending physician's office for rehab was based on a misunderstanding.

Kohl continues to buy into the plan he had in Wisconsin before coming to Washington, aides said. He sees the attending physician only for flu shots, which he pays for out of pocket.

Kind is covered under his wife's plan with the state of Wisconsin. He said he doesn't pay for the attending physician service because he doesn't use it.

Daniel Bachhuber, spokesman for Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wausau, says the congressman pays the attending physician fee "as a supplement to his Blue Cross Blue Shield plan. He believes any member of Congress who is covered by insurance ought to vote to make sure every American is, too."

Wisconsin lawmakers generally agree Americans should be entitled to the same health insurance options available to federal employees, who aren't subject to denial of coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions.

Some lawmakers point to the federal benefits program in making a case for including a government-sponsored "public" health option in an insurance exchange that supporters say would foster competition and drive down costs.

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program "works so well because it allows federal employees to pool both risks and resources to get the best value for their health-care dollars," said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton, who has a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan. "The American people deserve the same opportunity, which is why I strongly support a national public health-insurance option as part of health-care reform."

Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, said critics of the public option should look to the federal benefits program "for evidence of what government is doing right when it comes to choice and affordability in health care."

Petri said that although he opposes the public option, he supports a system in which "everybody has the choices and protections enjoyed by federal employees." He said the federal program is a "health-care exchange made up of private plans, and the system works well."

But Peter Sepp, a spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, isn't so sure the federal benefits program is markedly better than the insurance most Americans get through their employers.

"It's all in what you decide to compare," he said. "The insurance portion is somewhat more generous, not spectacularly so."

The Office of the Attending Physician is a significant perk for lawmakers, Sepp acknowledged.

"The ability to be able to walk into a military hospital in the D.C. area and receive care is a big plus," Sepp said. "It's not like members have to sit in a waiting room."

A Congressional Research Service study found that the federal government pays 72 percent of the average premium for employees, slightly more than private employers pay for family coverage but less than the 81 percent share private companies pay for individual plan premiums.

Premiums under the federal plan have increased 7.3 percent on average since 2003, the study said, compared with a growth rate of 10.5 percent in the private sector.

Providing Americans with the same benefits package that's available to members of Congress would be too costly, Sepp said.

"If we were to demand the same kind of plan Congress has, the federal expenditure would shoot the deficit to the moon," Sepp said. "If we're asking members of Congress to get the same kind of plan as the rest of us after health-care reform, that seems logical."