Cost Shifting Not Solving Health Care Cost Problem
Dean DeBroux testifies before the Senate Health Committee.
WEAC, coalition push for quality health care reform WEAC is one of 31 organizations that have formed a broad coalition advocating for health care reform at news conferences Thursday (March 8, 2007) in La Crosse, Madison and Green Bay. The coalition will work for reform that secures access to affordable, comprehensive health care for all Wisconsin residents; maintains and improves choice of health care provider and quality of health care services; and implements strategies that reduce and contain costs to assure affordable coverage for all individuals and employers.
The coalition’s formation and the beginning of critical Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearings on health care call attention to the urgent need for real health care reform in Wisconsin.
“Health care costs are squeezing family budgets throughout Wisconsin,” WEAC President Stan Johnson said. “As medical costs continue to rise, health care often dominates collective bargaining negotiations and our members are sacrificing salary increases or accepting pay cuts just to maintain adequate health benefits.
“With rising costs putting health care out of reach for many, the public is clamoring for a solution to the health care cost crisis. In the November 2006 elections, Wisconsin voters in 11 communities overwhelmingly approved a non-binding health care referendum initiative calling for the Wisconsin Legislature to develop a plan to reduce health care costs and guarantee access to universal, affordable health care coverage for all Wisconsin residents. We hope the Legislature honors the voters’ sentiments.” |
Shifting more and more costs onto Wisconsin's hard-working families will not solve Wisconsin's health care cost crisis, WEAC member Dean DeBroux told a legislative committee Thursday (March 8, 2007).
The Ashwaubenon teacher said many politicians blame teachers for the high cost of health care. But the fact is that teachers have been sacrificing salary increases and making other concessions to meet these rising costs.
"For the last 13 years the rising cost of health care has drastically reduced our pay," DeBroux told the Senate Health Committee at a hearing in Green Bay. "Under the QEO (Qualified Economic Offer law), health insurance increases come directly out of our pay. In many places, this has resulted in stagnant salary schedules and actual rollbacks just to cover the insurance increases."
In Ashwaubenon, he said, teachers have gone from having all their prescription drugs covered to a two-tier drug card and then to a three-tier drug card.
"We have increased deductibles and added co-pays," he said. "We have gone to a preferred provider plan. We agreed to pay a portion of our insurance premium.
"We have done everything we can to control the cost of insurance, as have other working families in Wisconsin. It seems the only answer out of the business community and government is to race to the bottom and shift as much of the cost and risk onto the workers of this state.
"I have to tell you," DeBroux said, "we didn’t cause this crisis. We didn’t let Aurora build all those half-empty hospitals and clinics. If you drive down Highway 41 there are nine hospitals between Green Bay and Oshkosh. We didn’t create this inefficient system that spends 16% to 18% and sometimes as much as 20% to 25% of the cost of insurance just on overhead."
DeBroux offered these thoughts how the committee can approach solving the problem in a meaningful way:
- Health care charges should be uniform. The uninsured should not be charged more for a procedure. Hospitals and clinics should post the cost of procedures, and that is what should be charged. This will create true competition within the health care industry.
- Comprehensive health care should have a statewide evidence-based three-tier prescription drug formulary. Prescribing would become more uniform, citizens would know they are getting the most appropriate drugs at the best price available, clinics and pharmacies would be able to carry a smaller drug inventory, and doctors would not have to deal with the myriad formularies in use today.
- Before a hospital or clinic can be built, it should have to demonstrate that there is a need in the area.
- The government should provide catastrophic coverage. Five percent of the population needs catastrophic health care. This care makes up 95% of the cost of health care. The government should create centers of excellence where most of these high-cost procedures can be performed. The centers would perform these difficult procedures more frequently, thus becoming better at those procedures and more efficient.
- The government should also provide routine care for everyone. Physicals, shots, and prenatal care would prevent many illnesses and diseases from spreading which would save money in the long run.
- Businesses and unions should be allowed to bargain collectively over the remaining coverage. This gap coverage would be minimal and cover things that are not routine, but not catastrophic.
"It’s not high taxes that are driving businesses out of Wisconsin; it’s high health care costs. It’s not high taxes that are causing people to leave Wisconsin; it’s high health care costs," DeBroux said, adding that Wisconsin has the third-highest health care costs in the nation. "It’s time to attack the real enemy - out of control health care costs. And making me pay more does nothing to fix the problem."
Posted March 9, 2007