According to a report released on Friday, Healthy Wisconsin (a universal health care plan for Wisconsinites) would have a very positive effect on the state’s economy; contrary to what critics have claimed. Join Ben Merens and his guest today, after four.
Guest: Robert Kraig, communication and program director, Citizen Action of Wisconsin. www.citizenactionwi.org
If you think you are too busy to be politically active, think again! says Ben Merens' guest after five. She discusses why and how Americans must reengage in the political process.
Guest: Bernadette Vadurro, author of "America's Conscience: Facing Threats to Democracy, the Middle Class and Our World" (Speakers Live Books)
posted by At Issue with Ben Merens @ 10:08 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
my biggest concern with the Healthy Wisconsin plan has to do with Wisconsonites who work in other States - IL, MI, MN, IA, etc. will we have to foot the entire bill without an employer contribution? will tax reciprocity take care of this? i know my employer in MN won't adjust my pay to offset a shift in health care plan costs to the State of Wisconin.
A universal health care is a good idea. But this particular funding method is not. Their claim that the new tax is simply a replacement of what we are paying now in premiums is very misleading. The higher the salary, the higher the tax. So above average salaried people in Wisconsin will end up subdizing the lower than average earners. A salary of 40 something thousand dollars is considered average. That's not really a lot. That's barely making it to what we call "middle class". In a lot of ways, this group already provides a lot of subsidy in the form of property taxes and existing income taxes. The government should figure out a better way. This is not the way. Almost every office worker in Wisconsin will end up paying more in taxes than what they pay now in premiums. So say "No" to this bill. Don't you think you pay enough taxes already?
With regard to the Healthy Wisconsin issue discussed in the first hour of the program, I've got to say that I was very interested to hear that our state is considering an undertaking of this magnitude--offering (as I understood it) universal health care to everyone who lives or works in WI.
The guest did a good job of hitting what seemed like the most important benefits of the proposed system. These included the universality of the coverage, the savings on a per-person basis (increased taxes, but NO private health insurance costs, including those inefficiencies built into the current system), and, perhaps most importantly, the focus on PREVENTION (an ounce of which is worth . . . well, you know).
I would be interested to hear another program dealing with the "secondary" effects of this proposed system (economically AND socially). Business moving into or out of our state . . . longer life expectancies (effect on SS?) . . . what happens to the people currently working in our private system? . . . reform of the medical system?
Also, I'm sure there are other cons that might have been glossed over (the guest was understandably biased). What might those be?
Personally, I've wondered what was holding us back from doing something like this a long time ago. Health insurance (or any insurance, for that matter) as I understand it benefits from minimizing the risk of large expenses (and therefore lower the cost of premiums) by spreading that risk over as large a group as possible. What larger group than everyone in the state? (An oversimplification, perhaps, but I'm trying to wrap my own head around this)
I would normally have an issue with giving control of something so important to the state, but it's hard to imagine health [care?] becoming any more clouded, beaurocratic, or slow to change than my current private health insurance.
Throwing a lot out there, but I would love to hear thorough discussion of this topic.
I would question anything that Citizen Action of Wisconsin is pushing. First off, they share a revolving door relationship with the Democratic Party (Linda Honold is their current director after she left the state chair of the Dems; and their Organizing Director just left to become the state chair of the Dems).
Second, look at their track record. Definitely, the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. They sent out 10s of thousands of postcard telling low income voters the wrong polling place; they've lied in election pieces; it's hard to tell where their 501C3 begins and their 501C4 starts, much less their involvment with 527s; and the list goes on.
Universal Health Care is too important an issue to allow them to touch it.
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