Only a few weeks after the November midterm elections, state Sen. Russ Decker, D-Schofield, is using the Democratic Party's political capital to propose statewide health care reform in Wisconsin.
According to a newly released survey by Mercer Health and Benefits LLC, Wisconsin citizens pay 26 percent more in health-care costs than any state in the nation. Decker said he blames the rising cost of health care on the record-breaking profits of Wisconsin hospitals in a statement.
Wisconsin's hospitals made a $1 billion profit last year. Decker said the huge profit has forced the average cost of an overnight hospital stay to reach nearly $4,000.
Decker plans to introduce a bill called the Health Care Partnership Plan, which offers far-reaching goals, but few specific plans. Decker said his proposal ""would create a statewide health care plan for all working people and their families and save over a billion dollars annually in health-care spending.""
However, the Wisconsin Hospital Association has spoken out against Decker's health care plan. George Quinn, the senior vice president of the WHA, disagrees with the connection Decker has made between hospital profits and rising health-care costs.
""Sen. Decker tries to draw a correlation between the level of hospital profits and health-care costs,"" he said. ""In reality, hospital profits from patient care services amount to only two-and-a-half cents per dollar of health insurance premium. They are a very small component of the total.""
Nearly half the $1 billion in hospital profits came from private donations, hospital gift shop sales and parking revenues according to a statement released yesterday by the WHA.
Quinn agreed a change is needed in Wisconsin to address health-care costs, but he said he feels Decker's approach to health- care reform is misguided.
""I think that everyone would agree that some form of change needs to take place to address the health care cost issue. But I don't think that the global budget, one-size-fits-all approach that Sen. Decker outlined will solve the problem, "" he said.
Quinn criticizes Decker's proposal for simply cutting health care funding without considering the underlying cause of growing costs.
""By limiting the number of dollars available, you choke off the availability of services that individuals are demanding,"" he said. ""Market-based approaches that deal with individuals as consumers I think are more realistic solutions. ""
