Category — Healthcare

A news item at Peter Roskam’s House web site dated May 12 announces that Roskam was honored yesterday by Adventist GlenOaks Hospital in Glendale Heights for having “secured” $190,000 for their new “no-wait” emergency room. At the same time, the hospital dedicated the ER’s radiation facilities to the late Rep. Henry Hyde, Roskam’s predecessor for his work on behalf of the advancement of medical care in the district”, referring, of course, to his tireless efforts to interject the federal government into the relationship between women and their physicians. But I digress.

Adventist Health System, which operates the hospital in Glendale Heights, as well as others in Bolingbrook, LaGrange, and Hinsdale is one of the largest faith-based health systems in the country. According to the hospital’s web site they are in the midst of a $7 million transformation of their emergency department. Why this $190,000 grant secured by Roskam was necessary is unclear. Its a drop in the bucket relative to the size of the project. It is not a drop in the bucket relative to the taxes I pay, however. I figure its as about 8.6 years of my tax dollars, or about 2.5 years of my labor. Not sure why all that money should be going to Adventist. Seems like they could be paying for this. Maybe $190,000 is the cost of getting someone to name something after Henry Hyde. Or maybe this is just a $190,000 donation to Roskams re-election campaign from us taxpayers.

I am not opposed to earmarks for good purposes. But this one disturbs me for two reasons.

First, because Roskam has spent so much time complaining about the earmark process. In fact, as I have noted previously, Roskam joined Reagan 21, a caucus whose members pledged to end all earmarks. Seems a tad hypocritical.

Second, and most important, Roskam is using this earmark to mislead voters when it comes to his record on health care. Roskam is quoted in the article as saying:

“Ensuring access to quality, affordable health care is one of the biggest concerns of families in my district,” said Roskam. “This is a perfect example of why I went to Congress. Advocating on behalf of the health and well being of my constituents is one of my greatest responsibilities and I am proud to have had a small part in bringing advanced health care to Glendale Heights.”:

But voters in the 6th should understand that Roskam’s legislative record shows him to have been a consistent opponent of Democratic efforts to provide greater access to health care for residents of the district. Peter Roskam has voted repeatedly against the expansion of SCHIP, the children’s health insurance program. Roskam has also voted against parity for mental health services in group health plans. And Roskam has even voted against funding for improved health services for veterans.

So if you live in the 6th and lack acces to affordable health care, don’t be fooled. Roskam has done nothing in his term to help you and shows no inclination to do anything in the future.

Read what Roskam’s opponent, Jill Morgenthaler, has to say about access to health care here.

Peter Roskam has not, by his legislative record so far, proven himself to be a friend of efforts to improve access to health care in our district and in the country at large. This week, he may be presented with an opportunity to change that.

A vote is likely to take place tomorrow in the House on H.R. 1424: Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007. This bill, if enacted, would require parity in the way group health plans treat mental and physical illnesses. In other words, plans would not be allowed to impose treatment limits on services for mental health conditions that are different from those imposed on services for medical and surgical conditions. There would have to be parity in visit limits, co-pays, deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums access to out-of-network providers, and lifetime limits for medical and mental health and addiction services. State mandates that are more expansive would not be overridden.

Anyone who has tried to access mental health or addiction services using a typical managed health care plan knows how skimpy these benefits can now be. And the distinction “mental” and “physical” conditions is artificial. These illnesses can pose equally grave risk of death and are often interrelated with so-called “physical” illnesses. The bill is an important step towards ending arbitrary discrimination against persons with mental health and addiction issues.

Peter Roskam has identified health care access and affordability to be among his legislative priorities for 2008. Now is the time for him to put his money where his mouth is.

It seems likely, however, that he will do the opposite and vote against the bill. He has voted in accordance with the National Association of Manufacturers 100% of the time during his first year in office and NAM has opposed such benefit mandates in the past. He also tends to vote pretty consistently with the Christian Right and I know that they are lobbying against this bill. I received an email from Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council the other day that tried to scare me by warning that this would lead to coverage for necrophilia and jet lag.

Please give Peter a call and ask him to vote in favor of H.R. 1424. You may reach his office in Bloomingdale at (630) 893-9670 or in Washington at (202) 225-4561.

It would be great also if Jill Morgenthaler would make public her position on parity.

Peter Roskam continued his self-declared war on “wasteful spending” and “misguided policies” by voting yet again today against the expansion of SCHIP (HR 3963, Children’s Health Insurance Program Extension and Improvement).

The vote was to override the President’s veto of the bill in December. Today’s vote failed to achieve enough votes thanks to the intransigence of Roskam and many of his Roadblock Republican colleagues. Yes, the same Roskam who has enjoyed complaining about excessive partisanship while voting a straight party line in an attempt to obstruct progress by the Democrats in Congress.

This bill, if enacted, would provide health care to 10 million currently uninusred children. Uninsured children are not among Roskam’s legislative priorities. In Roskam’s view, the money needs to be saved to provide aid programs for big business and big tax cuts for his wealthy neighbors.

As an elected member of Congress, Peter Roskam enjoys, courtesy of the taxpayers, an annual salary of $165,200. (He didn’t get a raise this year, but his colleagues received one in every year since 1997, presumably as a reward to themselves for squashing any increase to the minimum wage for you and me). He is also eligible for a retirement plan with a pension of up to 80% of final salary, allowances for personal staff, office expenses, travel and postage, and, of course, a health plan.

Roskam, his wife, and his children are all eligible to receive taxpayer-funded health insurance under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). He can choose any one of a couple of dozen different benefit plans depending upon his needs and preferences.

Now Peter Roskam has a plan to meet the health care needs of uninsured Illinois children. Roskam’s plan, as expected, offers neither quite as much flexibility as Peter and his family enjoy, nor quite as rich a benefit package, but that is understandable. But let’s see how the plans stack up: what Pete get’s for his family through FEHBP vs. what an uninsured Illinois child gets under his proposal. (We don’t know, of course, what coverage Roskam has elected, so we have to use a representative plan for comparative purposes).

First, the taxpayer-funded benefit package for Pete and his family:

• Out of pocket maximum per person: $3,000
• Out of pocket maximum for the family: $6,000
• Annual deductible: None
• Emergency room: Covered 100% after $100 copay
• Hospital inpatient: Covered 100% after $150/day copay for the first 5 days
• Hospital outpatient: Covered 100% after $30 copay
• Inpatient surgeon fees: Covered 100%
• Outpatient surgeon fees: Covered 100%
• Other inpatient doctor fees: Covered 100% after $20 copay
• Primary doctor office visits: Covered 100% after $20 copay
• Specialist office visits: Covered 100% after $30 copay
• Outpatient doctor tests: Covered 100% after $30 copay
• Brand-name drug from local pharmacy: 100% after $25 copay
• Preventive dental: Covered
• Restorative dental: Covered
• Orthodontia: Covered
• Vision exam: Covered
• Eyeglasses and contacts: Covered

Now the Roskam plan for the uninsured children of Illinois:

• Out of pocket maximum per person: No maximum
• Out of pocket maximum for the family: No maximum
• Annual deductible: NA
• Emergency room: Not covered
• Hospital inpatient: Not covered
• Hospital outpatient: Not covered
• Inpatient surgeon fees: Not covered
• Outpatient surgeon fees: Not covered
• Other inpatient doctor fees: Not covered
• Primary doctor office visits: Not covered
• Specialist office visits: Not covered
• Outpatient doctor tests: Not covered
• Brand-name drug from local pharmacy: Not covered
• Preventive dental: Not covered
• Restorative dental: Not covered
• Orthodontia: Not covered
• Vision exam: Not covered
• Eyeglasses and contacts: Not covered

Seeing the two plans side-by-side, and having had no small experience in health care, I’d have to say Pete’s plan for Illinois’ children doesn’t look so good. In fact, it seems to me that, by voting against SCHIP, Pete is telling us “I’ve got mine, the rest of you can go fuck yourselves.”

Give Pete a call at (630) 893-9670 and tell him to vote for SCHIP the next time around because you want for your kids the kind of security that we pay for his kids to have.

On October 25th, Col. Jill Morgenthaler of Des Plaines, a 30-year Army veteran and the Illinois Homeland Security Director, announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination to unseat Peter Roskam in the 6th Congressional District. We don’t know Jill well yet but wish her luck in her efforts to provide a viable alternative to Roskam’s “rubber stamp” complicity in George Bush’s miserable Presidency and the Republican Party’s nightmarish vision of endless war abroad, and the end of civil liberties and a return us to the days of robber barrons and sweatshops at home.