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Visitors shift attention at seniors’ meeting with Kagen

By Tim Ryan, Leader Reporter

What was intended as a low-key chat with seniors about health care Wednesday turned instead into a civil, but sometimes contentious, debate between U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen and skeptical members of the public.

The meeting at the Shawano Senior Center was attended by about half a dozen senior citizens expecting a quiet sit-down with Kagen, but they were soon outnumbered by a mostly younger set of visitors who dominated the hour-long question and answer session.

Kagen initially sat down at a table to talk with the seniors, but the other visitors complained they couldn’t hear him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore anybody, but I was here to meet with the senior citizens, and it looked to me like you were younger than the age group I had in mind,” Kagen said.

Nevertheless, Kagen took a microphone to address all the attendees, talking about what he said were benefits in the new health care reform law for senior citizens and small business owners.

Kagen said the new law provides “a great deal of reassurance for seniors,” particularly in starting to close the gap in Medicare Part D coverage often called “the donut hole.” He said over time the gap would be closed completely.

Kagen also noted free preventive medical tests would soon be available under Medicare, with no out-of-pocket co-payments or deductibles for preventive services.

The new law will also allow children to stay on a family’s insurance plan until they turn 26 years old, and insurers would be prevented from dropping a family’s coverage if a family member became ill.

Kagen also sought to clear up some of the misinformation surrounding the law, saying patients would still be able to go to their own physician and the hospital of their choice.

Other highlights of the new law cited by Kagen included a ban on insurance company discrimination due to pre-existing conditions; small business tax credits of up to 35 percent for the cost of insurance; a standard benefit plan all health insurers must offer; and no annual or lifetime caps on insurance coverage.

But the first question Kagen faced from the visitors — and one which would recur repeatedly during the hour — came from John Schreiner of Shawano.

“How is this going to be paid for?” Schreiner asked.

Kagen said there would be tax increases for single taxpayers making more than $200,000 a year and couples making more than $250,000 a year.

He also said there were 512 households in the 8th District he represents making more than $1 million a year — and they would pay an additional $6,000 to $7,000.

Referring to tax cuts under the Bush Administration, Kagen said, “the wealthy have had a tax holiday.”

He said additional revenue would come in through “finding efficiencies and eliminated waste, particularly in Medicare.”

But the notion of higher taxes — even those aimed at the wealthy — did not sit well with some of the visitors.

Schreiner left the meeting at that point, telling Kagen, “I hope you have your resume ready.”

Also bothered by the notion was Lisa Hoffman, an unsuccessful candidate in Tuesday’s election for the Shawano School District Board of Education.

She called the tax increases “redistribution of wealth” at odds with the capitalistic marketplace Kagen claimed to want to create in the health care industry.

“The wealthy’s fair share should be what everybody else pays,” Hoffman said. “I don’t think because you’ve been successful in this country, you should pay more taxes.”

Hoffman said the government had no Constitutional right to mandate what anyone’s health care should be and said it was not the government’s job to fix the broken health care system.

Dr. T. L. Christen, who had joined the seniors at their table for the meeting with Kagen, spoke up at this point, clearly frustrated with the comments she had been hearing.

“I’ve been sitting here and listening and I’ve got to say something for the seniors,” she said. “I represent a lot of seniors.”

Christen said the health care system is broken and the new law, while not perfect, begins to address those problems.

“For the first time, this is a start,” she said. “I’ve heard all the criticisms, but I haven’t heard one positive thing said. Have you actually read what’s in this? Our seniors have. Our seniors before this happened were angry, and they felt cheated by the American public, they felt cheated by the government. They felt they had been left out. And they were mad.”

Christen said there was still more work to do on the law and she hoped the younger visitors would help make it better.

“There’s a lot of work that has to be done and I hope you young people will get in there and start fighting,” she said. “We seniors have been fighting and no one has listened to us for 10 long years. We’re living in a world today where you have to start thinking positive, not negative. We’ve done that for too long.”

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