Obama health plan mirrors Wisconsin feats

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Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said Thursday that much of what President Barack Obama outlined during his speech to Congress Wednesday night on health care reform is already being done in Wisconsin with the state’s BadgerCare programs.

Doyle was joined by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and White House Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes on a conference call with the media Thursday to discuss Obama’s address and the importance of health care.

Wisconsin has been recognized as the second best state, behind Massachusetts, for health insurance access. Because of state programs such as BadgerCare Plus for Childless Adults, 98 percent of residents have access to coverage and 92 percent of residents are covered, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association.

Massachusetts has universal coverage, which added about 1 percent to the total state budget and was paid for by a cost savings the state realized by no longer treating the uninsured in emergency rooms, Patrick said.

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2009/09/07/daily50.html

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1. Kohl: Meets with President Obama on health care; discusses priorities for reform

9/11/2009

Contact: Ashley Glacel
Phone: [phone]

WASHINGTON – Today U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) met with President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss health care reform as part of the Senate’s Moderate Democrat Working Group. Senator Kohl emphasized the importance of reigning in the rising costs of health care, while maintaining health care quality and expanding access.

“We all understand that we want to move toward universal coverage, but I don’t think we’re focusing enough on costs. Insurance premiums are going up and up and up. This is not sustainable,” said Senator Kohl. “We need to do a better job of conveying to the American people what we’re going to do to reduce costs—not just to contain costs, but reduce costs—and still maintain quality health care, which is totally doable.”

Over the past several months, Senator Kohl has consistently pushed for health reform legislation to address the skyrocketing cost of health care, which is breaking the bank for American families, American businesses, and the government. The United States spends $7,290 on health care per person, per year—while the average spent by the 30 most developed countries in the OECD is $2,960 per person, per year. Despite this wide discrepancy in spending, studies show that the U.S. ranks below average on major health indicators, including infant mortality and life expectancy, when compared to these other industrialized countries.

Senator Kohl has urged the inclusion of provisions that will control costs by ensuring that the federal government pays for value of care, not volume, and eliminating duplicative testing and over-treatment. Under Medicare’s current reimbursement system, physicians are reimbursed based on the volume of services provided without regard to quality. Payments vary widely throughout the country and are based upon outdated data assumptions.

http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=169821

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2. oops

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3. Sensenbrenner offers assistance to President Obama

to get Medical Liability included in Healthcare legislation

Washington, Sep 10 - 2009

This afternoon, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), sent a letter to President Barack Obama offering his assistance in developing a medical liability component to be included in the health care legislation. In his letter, Sensenbrenner wrote, “I write to offer my assistance to help you make this cost-saving reform a reality as health care legislation is being discussed.”

Sensenbrenner, a lawyer, is the former Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over this issue. While he served as Chairman, the House passed tort reform several times, however, each time it was killed in the Senate.

Sensenbrenner also wrote, “You noted in your speech last night that you would explore ‘authorizing demonstration projects in individual states to test these issues’ and that you would direct Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius ‘to move forward on this initiative.’ With all due respect, I don’t think that we need to further test these issues. California, the most populous state in the Union, has already had such reforms in place since 1975. A number of other states, including my own State of Wisconsin, have seen the benefits of medical malpractice reform. It is time to apply these cost saving reforms to the rest of the country.”

California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act was signed in law in 1975, and has kept California medical liability insurance rates consistently over 300 percent lower than the national average. Sensenbrenner believes this would be an excellent starting point to discuss national medical liability reform.

He concluded his letter by stating, “I believe that this issue presents the perfect opportunity for you to gain bipartisan support for your signature issue. I hope that you accept my assistance and we are able to work together to enact meaningful medical liability reform as part of healthcare reform.”

http://sensenbrenner.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=144145

[RonKindDemocrat]

4. Hmmmm

Very interesting... i hate big bad jim, but he does look like he has a point and i would be willing to trade tort reform for republican votes for the health care bill