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Healthcare Costs Too High
Add this to the to-do list for Wisconsin lawmakers this year. The state’s largest business group says healthcare costs are too high, and need fixing.
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce on Tuesday released the latest update to its Employer Survey.
WMC said soaring healthcare costs are the number one policy concern in the new year.
“Wisconsin’s health care costs remain the fifth highest in the country, and 88% of survey respondents predict their costs will increase even more this year. Of these, the majority say these increases will necessitate increasing employee contributions,” WMC said in the survey. “When asked what the one thing state government could do to help businesses, 41% of respondents answered, ‘make healthcare more affordable.’”
WMC’s Scott Manley said higher healthcare costs hold businesses back, or mean higher prices and costs that someone has to pay.
“Healthcare costs are not only a competitive disadvantage, as they dip into employee compensation, investment opportunities, and more, but they also hurt Wisconsin families,” Manley added.
The survey doesn’t say just what WMC or the state’s employers want done to “fix” healthcare costs.
Gov. Evers has suggested a Medicaid expansion in Wisconsin, but that’s not likely to help.
A Medicaid expansion would help mostly single, able-bodied, childless men who are not working. It would not, by and large, help businesses lower their healthcare costs.
WMC would like to see state government step-in with another health related costs, however.
“The majority of the business leaders we surveyed expressed that they would like to see fee schedules for the Workers Compensation program and legislation to require health care costs and quality to be transparent and accessible,” Manley added.
There’s also the age-old push for general deregulation at the state capitol.
“There is a lot of inconsistency between federal, state, and local regulation,” Manley noted. “Many of these regulations do little more than add cost with no benefit. Employers want greater oversight from the Legislature over unelected bureaucrats who impose expensive regulation.”
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