Progressive Thinking

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has once again upheld the ACA as the law of the land, Governor Walker should do the right thing for the people of Wisconsin and take back our federal tax dollars to strengthen BadgerCare.

GREEN BAY - Thursday’s 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Affordable Care Act tax credits is an especially important victory for the 183,000 Wisconsinites, including 11,000 children, who stood to lose their health care coverage. Had the decision gone the other way, Gov. Scott Walker made it clear as recently as Wednesday that he would not take any affirmative steps to ensure those families would continue to be covered.

According to State Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay), the “decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a win for those who believe everyone should have access to affordable, quality health care". It "brings peace of mind to more than 166,000 Wisconsin residents who are secure in knowing that their coverage under the Affordable Care Act will continue as it was intended."

Unfortunately, tens of thousands of Wisconsinites still cannot access health care because extreme legislative Republicans refuse to enact the same law that all our neighboring states benefit from, at least in part due to Walker’s presidential posturing.

Joining our Midwestern neighbors in reclaiming our federal health care investments would allow more than 80,000 Wisconsin citizens to access health care coverage at a savings of more than $360 million over the next two years and well over $2 billion over the decade. It would provide health care access to more people at a lower cost to taxpayers and could help Wisconsin invest tax dollars in schools and communities.

Hansen says “Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has once again upheld the ACA as the law of the land, Governor Walker should do the right thing for the people of Wisconsin and take back our federal tax dollars to strengthen BadgerCare. Doing so would provide health insurance to thousands while saving Wisconsin taxpayers over $360 million over the next two years.”

Adds Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha),  “The people of Wisconsin are tired of legislative Republicans forcing them to take a back seat to Governor Walker’s political career. It’s time to do the right thing by taking the health care money.”

MADISON - Wisconsin deserves far more than a debate over whether investment in our state university system should be cut by $300 million as the governor wishes or $250 million as legislative leaders desire. The debate should be about how to make education as affordable for future generations as past generations made it for us. Lawmakers here and across the country should be trying to figure out how to reach the goal of tuition-free college. The future of the American Dream depends on it.

Something predictable happens when it is suggested that the promise of free public education for all children be extended all the way through college. Hardcore right-wingers balk at the idea of paying for anything that helps someone else. But something else happens too. Liberals instinctively call for means testing, arguing that only those who could not otherwise afford to pay for schooling should get society’s assistance.

This liberal impulse is understandable. It is also self-defeating. It ends up undermining the very kind of public investments liberals think are so critically important. It does so by stigmatizing public investments and sowing the seeds of resentment and hostility toward the beneficiaries.

Means testing inevitably pits those who qualify against those who don’t. It is no accident that the government programs that have been most successful and enduring – like Social Security – are not means tested. Everyone pays, everyone benefits.

Means tests also are prone to creating poverty traps. You have to be needy enough to qualify for a public benefit, and you have to stay needy enough to keep receiving it.

In order to have a just and decent society, we need to be there for each other. And we need our government to reflect that spirit of interdependence. Arriving there depends on us being smart enough to resist impulses like means testing that make government programs vulnerable to divide-and-conquer tactics. To the greatest extent humanly possible, what government does needs to be done for the whole of society. Everyone pays, everyone benefits.

Earl Holt III, leader of white supremacist group Council of Conservative Citizens cited in 'Dylann Roof manifesto' donated to top Republican politicians, including ours in Wisconsin. Says it is "not surprising" that Roof learned about "black-on-white violent crime" from the group's site.

GREEN BAY - A white supremacist who influenced the Charleston church shooter gave tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and committees in the past five years, including $3,500 to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, $1,250 to Sen. Ron Johnson and $1,000 to Rep. Paul Ryan's leadership committee.

The Green Bay Press Gazette reported Monday that Earl Holt III, president of the Council of Conservative Citizens, which was cited in a manifesto by shooter Dylann Roof, contributed $500 on seven occasions to Walker's campaign since 2011.

Holt also contributed $500 in 2011 and $500 in 2012 to Ryan's Prosperity PAC and gave Johnson's campaign $250 in 2010 and $1,000 in 2013. In Johnson's campaign filings from 2013, Holt lists his occupation as "slumlord."

AshLee Strong, a Walker spokeswoman, said, "The governor will be donating this money to charity."

A spokeswoman for Johnson said his campaign learned about the contributions on Monday morning and cut a check for the full amount to a charity to help the victims in Charleston.

"As soon as we discovered that Mr. Holt had contributed to the campaign, we immediately donated the full amount of his contribution to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund," Johnson campaign spokeswoman Betsy Ankney said.

A spokesman for Ryan's committee said the PAC will give the contributions it received from Holt to the Charleston church where the shooting occurred.

Roof, the suspect in last week's murder of nine blacks at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., said he learned about "brutal black-on-white murders" from the Council of Conservative Citizens website.

Holt said in a statement posted Sunday on the group's website that it is "not surprising" that Roof learned about "black-on-white violent crime" from the group's site. But the group "unequivocally condemns Roof's murderous actions."

The Guardian first reported Sunday that Holt has given more than $65,000 to Republicans in recent years, including presidential contenders Rick Santorum, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.

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Melissa Baldauff, WisDems Communications Director, also contributed to this article.

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout writes about the need to create a state-based health insurance marketplace in face of the potential devastating impact of the Supreme Court ruling in the King v. Burwell case. She calls on her colleagues to take action to protect over 180,000 Wisconsin citizens who currently receive federal subsidies.

MADISON - “Wisconsin has relied heavily on the exchange to expand health insurance coverage,” wrote President Eric Borgerding of the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA). In a recent letter to Legislators, he warned a looming Supreme Court decision “could strike down premium assistance.”

Many Wisconsinites are waiting to hear if they will still be able to afford their health insurance bill.

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon rule on the legality of health insurance subsidies for those living in states that did not create a state-based health insurance marketplace.

The WHA estimates over 180,000 Wisconsinites receive tax credit assistance from the federal government for health insurance purchased through healthcare.gov, the federal marketplace. That is roughly like the population of Green Bay and Racine losing an average of almost $3,800 a year.

In western Wisconsin, more folks receive assistance than the statewide average (89%). In just the nine counties that are totally or partially in our Senate District, 13,712 or 98% of people receiving health care through the federal exchange also receive federal tax credits. The number potentially affected by loss of assistance is more than the entire population of Buffalo County. Potential dollars lost to families in our 9-county area is $4.3 million and statewide the potential loss is $57 million.

Wisconsin can avert this crisis by creating a state-based marketplace.

The Legislature should take up Senate Bill 107 to create a Badger Health Benefit Authority. I introduced the bill earlier this year (for the fourth time!) and warned my colleagues of the potential disaster if the Supreme Court strikes down premium assistance going to hardworking Wisconsinites.

My bill creates both a Small Business Health Options Program and an individual marketplace for people buying insurance on their own. The proposal builds on unique aspects of Wisconsin health care including the work by health plans and providers to improve price transparency, control costs and maintain exceptional quality of care.

Because political winds blow both ways through Wisconsin, the marketplace should be independent of state government. This is why my bill calls for an autonomous authority to govern the exchange and a nonpartisan board to oversee operations.

To avert possibilities of corruption and assure public confidence, the marketplace must be transparent – follow state open meetings and records laws – and follow provisions related to accountability, conflict of interest, ethics and disclosure of financial interests. No person employed by a health plan, provider of health care or who sells insurance should be on the board governing the marketplace.

If the Supreme Court rules to invalidate insurance premium assistance for 180,000 Wisconsinites, the insurance market in Wisconsin could be thrown into chaos. Without assistance of an average payment of $316 dollars a month (lowering insurance costs on average to $125), many people will be forced to drop insurance.

When healthy people drop insurance and only sick people keep it, insurance companies end up raising rates. Hospitals and doctors face more people without insurance – also adding to the cost of health care for everyone else. Pharmacies, medical equipment companies and others who serve patients will likely experience a drop in business.

A recent New York Times article quoted Larry Levitt of Kaiser Family Foundation, “A reasonable assumption is that (spending on) healthcare by people who lost their existing subsidies will drop by at least half.” Nationwide the NYT reported this spending would be about $7.5 billion.

Arkansas, Delaware and Pennsylvania recently received permission from federal authorities to create their own state-based exchange. Officials in these states are preparing. So why not Wisconsin?

There is only one answer: Health insurance has become a partisan issue.

Recent action by the Obama administration granting approval to three states gives us a path forward. We could use the healthcare.gov website as the front of our marketplace and SB 107 to create a governance structure that takes advantage of Wisconsin ingenuity.

To the Governor and Republican Legislators I say, ‘People’s health is at stake. Take my bill, make it better, and get the job done!’

Latest reports confirm WEDC officials failed to perform critical underwriting for $124.4 million in taxpayer supported loans it made to 27 companies. Provide confirmation WEDC has failed at predicted economic development and jobs creation.

MADISON - State Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) called for the closure of the troubled Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) today after it was revealed that WEDC officials failed to perform critical underwriting for $124.4 million in taxpayer supported loans it made to 27 companies.

WEDC was created in 2011 by Governor Scott Walker and majority legislative Republicans, replacing the former Department of Commerce as the primary agency responsible for economic development and jobs creation in Wisconsin. Since then, it has consistently failed to meet its goals in both.

Governor Walker said the creation of WEDC was central to his promise to create 250,000 jobs during his first term in office. However, according to a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report, Wisconsin ranks 35th in the nation for job creation since Gov. Walker took office and ranks worst in the nation for new business creation. Reports also showed that Walker created just 129,131 new jobs in his first term, or 51.7 percent of his 250,000 jobs promise.

In addition, a series of non-partisan audits beginning in 2012 show WEDC lost track of $56 million worth of taxpayer funded loans and found that the agency lacked basic internal accounting controls. The quasi-public agency has also written off more than $7.6 million in loans, to include a $500,000 loan to a troubled company owned by a major donor to Walker’s campaign.

“WEDC has been an unmitigated disaster from the start. It has been one scandal after another, squandered millions of dollars and failed to produce any significant numbers of jobs,” said Hansen a longtime critic. “There is no way to justify its existence any longer. It is time to end WEDC. It is beyond repair and the taxpayers deserve better.”

"Since it was created WEDC it has given millions to companies that outsourced Wisconsin jobs, ignored its own rules and state law, and written off millions in failed loans to Republican campaign donors," said Hansen. "According to a recent audit, of the 19,306 jobs WEDC was expected to create during fiscal years 2011-2013 it created only 7,894—barely 40% of the number of jobs promised."

“Unfortunately those of us who said that WEDC was a failed model from the start have seen our prediction come true. After wasting millions of taxpayer dollars amid numerous scandals it is time to admit that the WEDC model is a failure and scrap it in favor of a more open and transparent model that is truly accountable to the taxpayers,” Hansen said.

The Senator concludes “By any measure, WEDC is a failure that taxpayers cannot afford to support. With Wisconsin’s economy still continuing to lag our neighbors and the nation, there is nothing left to do but shut the doors on WEDC and close the book on what has become a very expensive lesson in how not to create jobs.”