WISCONSINREPORT.COM (03/15/08) - A Wisconsin Congressional Representative from the Northeastern part of the state was in Philedelphia yesterday (March 14, 2008) to tell medical personnel that Constitutional rights should apply to health care. Congressman Steve Kagen, who is also a doctor, declared that to guarantee access to affordable care, it's important to end discrimination in health insurance. Kagen spoke at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) in Philadelphia, PA. Before being elected to Congress, Dr. Kagen founded the Kagen Allergy Clinics in Appleton, Green Bay, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

“Our Constitution protects all citizens against discrimination, and it is time we apply this established principle to health care. I have introduced a bill to bring back community ratings and put discrimination where it belongs – in the past,” Dr. Kagen stated. “Insurance companies should not be allowed to discriminate against any of our patients.”

On February 14, 2008, Congressman Kagen introduced the No Discrimination in Health Insurance Act (H.R. 5449) which would bring an end to the discriminatory practice of allowing insurance companies to deny life-saving medical coverage to citizens due to any pre-existing medical conditions.

The No Discrimination Act also establishes a competitive and transparent health care marketplace by requiring all insurance companies to openly disclose their prices and charge every citizen within the region the same fee for the same service.

“We must establish an open and transparent medical marketplace such that if you’re a citizen, you’re in and if it is in your body, it should be covered,” stated Kagen.

Dr. Kagen also urged his medical colleagues to become involved in politics.

“One of the lessons I’ve learned is that it is not doctors and nurses that will determine who lives and who dies, it’s politicians. Politicians decide if we go to war. It is politicians that today are preventing every citizen from having access to affordable care," Kagen said.

"As physicians, we must participate in the lives of our patients and in the politics of our nation. And most importantly, we need leaders today at every level of government with good judgment,” Congressional Representative Steve Kagen pointed out.

AAAAI has nearly 6,500 members in the United States, Canada and 60 other countries and represents allergists, asthma specialists, clinical immunologists and allied health professionals.

Prior to running for Congress, Dr. Kagen founded the Kagen Allergy Clinics in Appleton, Green Bay, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and served as an assistant clinical professor of Allergy-Immunology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Kagen was born and raised in the Appleton, where he and wife Gayle raised four children.

Democrat Steve Kagen is triple Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology. He was once named Best Doctor In America by his fellow Wisconsin physicians.

Doctor Steve Kagen has been credited with discovering many new causes of alergies and asthma, and, served for seven years as the exclusive Alergy Consultant to CNN, CNN Airport News, CNN Headline News, and, CNN Interactive.

Kagen was elected to the U.S. Congress to serve the residents of the following counties: Brown, Door, Florence, Forest, Kewaunee, Langlade, Marinette, Menomonee, Oconto, Oneida, Outagamie, Shawano, Vilas and Waupaca. One of the reasons he ran for Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District seat was to fight in Washington D.C. for guaranteed access to affordable health care for everyone.