Uppity Wisconsin

Ron Johnson, who's taken back half of what he's said since entering the race for US Senate, has had one consistent story he tells on the stump and in interviews.

It's a personal story about his daughter, which humanizes him (makes him seem a little less like a space alien who just entered our atmosphere) and sets up his complaints about national health care reform.

Maybe it's because it is personal, but the news media have been giving him a pass and simply reporting the story without asking whether it makes any sense. (It doesn't.)

The latest version was reported by the Racine Journal Times, but similar reports have appeared elsewhere. It goes like this, reported by WKOW-TV in Madison:

While Johnson has related the experience of his eldest daughter's medical emergency as an infant before, the Oshkosh businessman spoke of it in some detail for the first time in Madison.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin attacks the Republican guberntaorial candidates in this video that is getting a lot of play at the moment.  I had no idea they could play musical instruments, so maybe there's a second career for them a la Steve Martin.

Republican gubernatorial candidates Scott Walker and Mark Neumann sing the same tune when it comes to women's reproductive rights.  They're all for freedom from government interference, except when they're not.

Planned Parenthood Advocates captured the duet singing from the same hymnal, as it were. More info here.

Good grief! From the Wis. State Journal:

A state law is forcing the Madison Catholic Diocese this month to begin offering its employees insurance coverage for birth control.

However, a diocesan spokesman said employees will be warned against using the benefit and that open defiance of Catholic teaching on the issue could ultimately lead to termination.

And he wasn't just talking about the priests and nuns, either.

Health care costs are very much on people’s minds.

As I travel our Senate District, I hear concerns about cost; from a farmer paying $1900 a month for just his own health insurance, from local county board members worried about rising employee health costs, from union members worried about losing health benefits, from small business owners with double digit increases in health costs.

Why are health care costs so high?  As compared to other countries, higher prices for drugs, doctor and hospital care make all of us pay more for health insurance.  Did you know an MRI scan in the U.S. costs eight times more than a similar scan in Britain?

In addition, we use more services. We don’t see the doctor more. (The Japanese see the doctor 14 times a year compared to the American average of five visits.) But when we do see the doctor, we get more tests, scans and other procedures – which cost more.

Finally, paperwork costs us. The U.S. spends about fifty-percent more on paperwork than our Canadian neighbors.

Do you know someone who has been without health insurance because they have pre-existing conditions? A new health insurance option may be able to help.

Enrollment for the new “HIRSP Federal Plan” opened last week. This plan is open to Wisconsin citizens who have a pre-existing condition and have been without health insurance for six months. 

Wisconsin received $73 million dollars from the federal government to provide a health insurance option to help those facing the worst situation – serious health conditions with no health insurance.  The HIRSP Federal Plan offers very reasonable rates for comprehensive health insurance. For example, a person age 60 and over who chooses the highest deductible - $3,500 – will pay $398 a month. A person under 25 who chooses the lowest deductible - $500 – will pay $214 a month.

The plan’s benefits are similar to many health insurance plans and exclude such things as eye glasses, routine dental care and hearing aids. But the plan does offer a prescription drug benefit that includes generic and brand name drugs.

“I never thought I’d be disabled,” the man at the parade told me. “I was a diesel truck driver. But a split second accident and 37 surgeries later here I am.”

An axle crushed his leg.

Last week I met a fellow whose foot had been run over by a cement truck. Like me, he was hobbling around the dairy breakfast on crutches. “You never know when accidents are going to happen.” he said.

At an event in Eau Claire a woman stopped me to ask about budget cuts for the disabled. She had many stories to tell me about the effects of budget cuts on her disabled clients.

Unless you have a disabled friend or family member it is easy to think of the challenges they face as “someone else’s problem.” But, in truth, we are all one bad day away from facing the world with a disability.  We are all one bad accident away from needing the services provided by the state’s Medicaid program.

WisPolitics.com, in a report to subscribers about an interview with Republican Senate candidate Ron Johnson:

 Johnson said his daughter’s medical difficulties as a young girl are a particular motivator for him on the issue. She was born with a heart defect that required surgery right after she was born and again when she was 8 months old. Johnson said he sought out the best care available for his daughter and complained the health care law pushed through by Dems will restrict that freedom for Americans.

Some critics in the blogosphere have seized on that story to question whether others would actually have that freedom under the old system or only the well off.

But Johnson said he had the same insurance available to other employees at his company, Pacur. His daughter is now 27 and working as a nurse in a neonatal care unit.

“I had nothing special,” Johnson said of his insurance coverage.

The real question is what evidence does Johnson have that the new health care system would prevent anyone from doing the exact same thing he did, with the same coverage?

“I am quite worried about health insurance reform,” the small business owner told me. “Can you tell me how all of this is going to affect me?” She went on to explain, “I do buy insurance for my employees, but it is very expensive and I am not sure I can continue.”

High costs hit small employers hard. They are left with few options. Pay more or drop coverage for employees. It is little surprise that half of those uninsured in the U.S. own or work for a small business or are self employed. If they do have insurance, workers in small businesses pay higher deductibles, have fewer choices and poorer coverage.

Many businesses are looking at sharp rate increases this spring. Concerned business owners have contacted me looking for ways to reduce health insurance costs. They are not sure changes at the federal level will provide much help.

Much of federal health care reform is phased in over several years. Beginning in tax year 2010, small businesses offering coverage for employees will receive a tax credit of up to 35% of premiums. This will help when the tax man comes to collect but it won’t provide relief for business owners struggling under high premiums right now.

“Reduce your prescription drugs costs now!” the headline screamed. The fine print mentioned millions of dollars in savings because pharmacies would not have to meet state requirements to mark up drugs by 9%.

Citizens were asked to call their senators and show support for a bill to lower drug costs.

The bill is being pushed by Wal-Mart and other organizations have been recruited to support it.

And the real story is not as advertised.

Seventy years ago, Wisconsin passed a “predatory pricing’ law to keep large companies from forcing smaller competitors out of business. The law prohibits selling goods below cost to force a competitor out of business. 

Tony Huppert drove from Spring Valley to Madison for a hearing last week to testify against the Wal-Mart bill that would allow prescription drugs to be sold in Wisconsin below cost.

 “I have been in business for forty years,” Tony said. “There are only two reasons to sell below cost. One is to go broke. The second one is to eliminate competition…Trust your instincts; businesses do not sell below costs out of the goodness of their heart.”

Tommy Thompson says he has so many clients these days that he can't even remember them all. But it's pretty clear that Tommy knows who's paying his salary while he ponders a race for the US Senate.

Thompson, appearing on Neil Cavuto's show on Fox, said there's a major problem with the new health care bill "that's gotta be fixed or it will have a detrimental impact." On his clients, that is.

Thompson is shilling for corporations that now can double dip by providing prescription drug plans for their retirees under Medicare Part D.

The scheme, cooked up by George W. Bush and then-Secretary Thompson of HHS, gives corporations a subsidy of $1,300 per retiree for continuing to offer the drug plans. But here's the kicker: It also lets the corporations claim the subsidy as a tax deduction. This sounds like I must have it wrong, I know, so here's an explanation from a credible source.

Sly in the Morning, in a segment on his Madison radio show outed Tommy and played clips from his appearance with Cavuto.

As I travel around our Senate District recently no topic has sparked more debate than passage of historic health care reform.

The long awaited (and much maligned) law brings needed relief to those without insurance and to those facing double digit increases in insurance premiums. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates 32 million uninsured people will be covered as a result of the new law. Over the next ten years the law will cost $938 billion paid for through savings, new taxes and fees.

Most constituents are relieved the bill finally passed. Citizens with no health insurance can expect, by the end of the summer, to find affordable coverage through the state’s high risk pool (HIRSP).

The new law brings $5 billion into state-run high risk pools to make insurance more affordable. In Wisconsin, rates for HIRSP are expected to drop in April and again this summer. If you found the high risk pool too expensive, please consider giving it another look. If you need assistance applying for coverage, please contact my office.

Tommy Thompson belittles the health care bill while pandering to the tea partiers on the government "taking over the health care system":

Government-controlled health care No, this legislation is not as significant as Medicare, which enabled the elderly and disabled to receive real protection when they were less capable of obtaining coverage and had no alternatives whatsoever. But this legislation has the potential to change the current social services fabric because the health insurance transformation that will pass will be the beginning of a government-controlled health care system.-- Tommy Thompson in NY Times.

Which makes this more relevant, from Rep. John Boccieri (D-OH) on the House floor:

“I’ll remind my friends on the other side (House Republicans) who voted to send (former president George W. Bush’s secretary of health and human services) Tommy Thompson to Iraq with a billion dollar checks in hand to make sure that every man, woman and child in Iraq had universal health care coverage.”

Since I'm one of the crazy people who watched almost all of the health care-a-palooza yesterday, I thing Obama deserves some sort of award for putting up with what  happened and not hitting anyone.  Ditto anyone else in the room with any actual connection to reality. I award them a pair of boots:

 

toothpastefordinner.com

I guess it's national News Day.  As a warm-up for tomorrow's health-care-a-palooza, I thought this was an interesting video for a number of reasons.  I only wish it was only the Republicans who were wholly-owned subsidiaries of the health care industry.  Still, point taken (though apparently not written down).