Editor Note - This begins a new feature on Uppity Wisconsin, where legislators will begin submitting blog entries and op-ed features to the blog. Let us know what you think - we'll start out with State Senator Kathleen Vinehout's column on Health Care Reform.
“We have got to figure out how to fix
health care. I think we need to look at what we are doing other
places.” The man called my office to share ideas on how to reform
health care. “Yes,” I agreed.
What have we done in other places? My
constituent was thinking about ideas like workers compensation,
unemployment compensation and the state employees’ health plan.
Wisconsin has several examples of initiatives taken to solve
insurance problems. But so have other states and Wisconsin is
actually lagging behind many of those states.
I recently returned from a national
gathering of state officials working on health care reform. I spoke
with officials from New Jersey, Alabama and Rhode Island and learned
first hand how far we are behind these states. (Yes, even Alabama.)
This past week I met with government officials and business people to
share what I learned and encourage their commitment to reform.
At least 42 states are looking at ways
to expand health insurance coverage. Seventeen states have been
successful at some type of expansion.
Usually the states first acted to bring
in as much federal money as possible by expanding Medicaid – the
health program funded by the state and federal government. Currently
states must ask permission of the federal government to expand their
Medicaid program. This is necessary to capture matching money from
Washington.
It is important for Wisconsin to take
such action because we bring back to our state far less than we send
to Uncle Sam. More than eighty percent of states bring back more in
federal dollars than Wisconsin.
Last year, we took the first step to
expand our Medicaid program with BadgerCare Plus.
BadgerCare Plus provides health care
for low income families (and ‘families’ include children age 18
or under). The federal government kicks in at least 60% of the money
- helping our state dollars go much farther. We expanded eligibility
and now have 70,000 new people enrolled. Interestingly, most of the
new enrollees were eligible under the old plan but just now heard
about it.
We still have significant problems:
BadgerCare Plus (as all state child health insurance programs) was
designed to cover children and families. But adults account for 80%
of the uninsured. Many have no children or adult children, making
them ineligible.
Officials are now working with the
federal government to expand our BadgerCare Plus program to include
people with no children age 18 or under. Permission to do this, we
hope, will be granted by the end of September. It will take about six
months to put the new program in place.
This is a big step forward and will
help many who now cannot find affordable coverage in the private
insurance market.
The steps Wisconsin is taking helps
address the problem of the uninsured but not the problem of rising
health care costs. To do this we must grapple with changes to our
insurance system. I recently learned that Wisconsin has some of the
most lax rules in the county on insurance companies.
For example, thirty two states have
rules limiting how pre-existing conditions are used to rate
individual insurance plans. Not Wisconsin.
Thirty states require an advance review
by the state of proposed individual plan rate increases before they
can be changed. Not Wisconsin.
Perhaps this is why we see so much
variation in premiums and so many people every year going back to the
market to find a better deal on health insurance.
Next week I will explore the steps we
can take to bring down our health care costs.
If you have ideas, please do not
hesitate to call or write. Senator Kathleen Vinehout State Capitol
P.O. Box 7882 Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7882 or 877-763-6636 (toll
free). If you have missed a column, check out
www.legis.wi.gov/senate/sen31/news/
or email me at [email protected].