State officials discussed three proposals to improve health care in Wisconsin at a public forum Sunday afternoon in Madison.
The forum is part of a statewide series to gather opinions and educate people throughout Wisconsin about poor access and the rising cost of health care.
About 500,000 Wisconsin residents have no access to health insurance, according to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. The Wisconsin Health Plan, proposed by the Wisconsin Health Project, would require employees to pay 2 percent of their social security wages. Lisa Ellinger, assistant director of the Wisconsin Health Project, said it would cover most Wisconsin residents under age 65 living in the state for more than six months.
Ellinger said the keyword for the Wisconsin Health Project is compromise. She also added it is important to understand none of the programs are perfect and that legislators will review each initiative before becoming an actual bill.
The Wisconsin Health Care Partnership Plan, proposed by AFL-CIO, would allow people to choose their primary care provider but would require an additional co-pay for visits to specialists not referred by the primary care provider, AFL-CIO representative David Nack said.
Employers would have to pay around $340 per month per employee. The plan would deny coverage to unemployed, self-employed and early retirees, Nack said, but those people could also purchase coverage separately.
The Wisconsin Health Security Act, proposed by the Coalition for Wisconsin Health, would have a universal health-care program with no deductibles or additional costs.
Dr. Eugene Farley, an emeritus professor of the University of Wisconsin department of family medicine, said a large amount of health-care spending is administrative costs.
"We spend $35 to $42 billion on health care, and that is clearly ineffective," Farley said.
He said the Wisconsin Health Security Act would unify health-care fees and promote a system similar to ones used by Canada and several other countries.
"The United States spends twice as much as Canada, Japan and Europe, and our health-care system is still worse than theirs," Farley said.
Although the three plans have different costs and residency requirements, the main goal is to extend health care to all Wisconsin citizens.
Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle has also proposed a reform plan and is also currently holding his own series of discussions across the state about BadgerCare Plus.
He said his plan would expand coverage to 98 percent of Wisconsin residents.
"By ensuring every child has health insurance, expanding health coverage to more adults and making health-care premiums tax free, we will make Wisconsin America's health-care leader," Doyle said in a statement Friday. "By making health care more affordable and insuring more of our citizens, we can lower the cost of insurance for all of us."
The statewide forum series, sponsored in Madison by the Madison Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends, will continue to promote hearings on health care and hope to have a decision by mid-summer, according to Ellinger.
