"WalkerCare" - Scott Walker needs health care talking points
In a clear move to give himself health care street cred and campaign talking points for his 2016 presidential run, Scott Walker is poised to initiate some big "reforms" to Wisconsin state employee heath insurance. And as usual, Wisconsin residents and the Wisconsin economy will pay a big price.
To get things rolling, Walker hired Segal Consulting to study health insurance cost savings to the state and to find a justification for the state to move from a competitive HMO based insurance system (which works very well) to having the state self-insure for state employee health insurance. He also made an arbitrary and unspecified $25 million cut to the state employee health insurance budget to make sure the cuts the consultant recommends will have to be made.
Assuming the consultant's recommendations are followed, in 2016 the nearly 250,000 Wisconsin residents covered by state employee health plans could see a doubling of the annual out-of-pocket maximum, a new $500 deductible, a new co-pay scheme, and increase in the cost of prescription drugs to as much as $200 per refill for non-generics. Since Walker took office in 2011, state employees have already seen as much as a 10% reduction in their take home pay because of increases in their health insurance costs mandated by the governor. The 2016 increases will be difficult for many people to handle.
The big "reform" though, would come in 2017, with the implementation of "WalkerCare". The plan is to eliminate the state-wide network of 18 HMOs that compete to offer plans to state employees and contract with one large out of state administrator to run a State of Wisconsin self-insurance plan. This radical move would put Walker and his appointed state insurance board in control of benefits affecting the health of nearly 250,000 Wisconsin residents. The state had previously hired Deloitte consultants, who reported that the state could save $20 million per year by self-insuring, but might spend $100 million more by making the change. That wasn't what Walker wanted to hear, so his insurance board hired Segal Consultants, who came to the more agreeable conclusion that the state "could" save $50 million to $70 million a year
After the first consultant's report came out, the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans warned that moving to self-insurance "could cost the state in excess of $200 million as well as costing 1,000 jobs and threaten the competitive nature of the HMO approach widely used in Wisconsin. That could impact many private employers who use the HMOs and the preventive care approach for their own workers." The ripple effect of nearly 250,000 people leaving the HMOs all at once will be devastating not only to the HMOs and state employees; it will have a serious negative impact on Wisconsin's health insurance industry, health care, and economy.
Everything Walker has done in Wisconsin since becoming governor in 2011 has been done to further his presidential ambitions, and the people of Wisconsin have paid the price each and every time. With the elimination of state employee unions and a compliant Republican legislature and Wisconsin Supreme Court, there is nothing to stop Walker this time either. He needs health care street cred and 2016 talking points, no matter what it costs the people of Wisconsin. Wisconsinites have already involuntarily contributed billions of dollars to his 2016 campaign, and it's unlikely he'll stop now.
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Last show of the season tonight.
Get the women and children to shelter, because hard times are a'comin'.
