M.D. Congressman Goes Without Health Insurance [Wall Street Journal]
by Jacob Goldstein
Steve Kagen, a Wisconsin Congressman who is also an M.D., is going without health insurance to prove a political point. Sure it’s something of a gimmick, but it’s a pretty compelling one — the guy is 58 years old, and he has no coverage.
Kagen, a Democrat and an allergist, is the only Congressman to refuse insurance, Scientific American reports this week.
He announced his insurance status to the world last year on the Huffington Post, and this year he introduced a bill that would bar insurers from denying coverage or raising rates because of pre-existing conditions. He’d also require companies to disclose all of their rates.
The bill doesn’t call for new funding to help people afford those plans. Kagen argues (as does the health insurance industry) that getting everybody covered will lower rates, because the insured are basically subsidizing the cost of care for the uninsured by paying higher prices for care.
