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5/22/2009
Kagen and transparency and hypocrisy - redux
Representative Kagen often gets his two cents worth in amidst discussions of health care reform. Yesterday’s quick toss-off paragraph showed up at the end of a Journal Sentinel article on dueling health care reform plans.
Rep. Steve Kagen, an Appleton Democrat who was a practicing allergist before joining the House, … proposed that costs of procedures and drugs be disclosed openly to foster competition and lower prices - an idea that many Republicans have embraced. Kagen’s been saying this stuff for a long time, and it bugs me. In August, 2007, I wrote of the hypocrisy of it all.
As a result of transparency claims… I emailed Kagen’s D.C. Communications Director Curtis Ellis:
- “Do you have information about price lists used by the four Kagen Allergy Clinics, how widely they’re available, and how ‘unitary’ the pricing? If you don’t have that information, do you have a contact with the Clinics that Dr. Kagen prefers be used for such inquiries?”
It took a couple of weeks and phone calls to get a response.
- "Dr. Kagen ran for Congress to guarantee universal access to affordable care for every Citizen. Dr. Kagen no longer owns or controls the Kagen Allergy Clinics, but the clinic does inform patients about their potential charges whenever asked, just like other medical clinics do all across the nation."
So Dr. Kagen’s first cop-out is that he’s no longer an owner of his eponymous clinic (primarily because of patient privacy considerations I believe, as otherwise, all detailed revenue information would need be released). For crying out loud, Kagen ran on the premise that he had this successful medical practice and as a result, he could be counted on to solve the nation’s health care woes…. So if you had these deep-seated beliefs about the health care system, wouldn’t you make changes in your own backyard first?
I asked at the Appleton Kagen Clinic for a list of services and related prices. I was told no, there is no list of services. And yes, they could give me approximate prices. Then came “What is this for?” Well, I was honest (“for my news site, FoxPolitics.net”). So now I have to talk to the good doctor in charge, Dr. Kagen’s former partner. I was told he wasn’t in and that he’d have to decide whether to contact me or not.
So, no posted service list. No service list at all. As of yet, no price list. Certainly not posted and always visible. No complete answers to my questions. Certainly no transparency.
If you really believed in a foolproof way to transform health care in America, would you be doing everything you could to put them in practice, to create your own little Petri dish in your own laboratory? Boy, I sure would. Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Ouch!
Good job Jo. And thanks a lot for sharing. Your findings are extremely frustrating.
David (Fri May 22 07:37:30 2009)
You're right, Kagen's hypocritical on this. And not only hypocritical on transparency, his "call" for transparent pricing is simply another hollow way to appear he is "doing something" (and of course taking the obligatory whack at the pharmaceutical industry along the way).
But setting the politics aside for a moment, why instead of calling for price lists are we not encouraging the PATIENTS to ask about prices before they agree/commit to services? Would you buy any other goods or services from a provider who would not willingly provide you with the price in advance? Patients simply say "yes" to whatever the clinic wants to sell, figuring somebody else (insurance) is paying for it. Then, ironically, everybody beats up on the insurance companies when they are the ONLY ones in the whole system who actually ask about and challenge the pricing!
Tom (Fri May 22 08:03:34 2009)
This is the trouble with a third-party-payer system; it removes people from the consequences of their actions. (Like, "I'll just go to the ER, as I 'don't have time' to make an appointment") Also, I do believe there is some federal prohibition against drs posting their prices, as other professionals, like plumbers and electricians, do. (May be wrong, but a dr told me that and I guess he should know...)
emily matthews (Fri May 22 08:53:55 2009)
The Oath of Hippocrates, taken by physicians, begins: First of all, do no harm.
The problem with the medical profession in this country is that its pricing does indeed do harm.
Kagen funded his own campaigns, using personal wealth gained through the practice of medicine.
He and many others in the practice of medicine assume personal wealth as an expected reward for putting M.D. behind their names.
"Physician, heal thyself." It is as true today as it was 2,000 years ago.
Edward Byrne (Sat May 23 21:41:46 2009)
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