Progressive Thinking

MADISON - News reports last Friday exposed that top Walker aides have encouraged communicating official state business through private channels to limit public access. By doing so, it appears that Gov. Scott Walker is continuing the "secret email network" policy he pursued at Milwaukee County. The Milwaukee County network was uncovered during the John Doe 1 investigation in 2011 that led to the indictment and conviction of several Walker aides.

“Gov. Walker is either deliberately misleading the public and press or he’s woefully out of touch with what his top cabinet officials are doing", said Senate Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) and Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) in a joint statement on Friday. "Either excuse is unacceptable."

“This latest scandal to limit public records is a gross abuse of political power that follows the typical pattern of Republican secrecy we’ve come to expect", the statement continues. "Simply put, Gov. Walker and legislative Republicans can’t be trusted to do the right thing for our state."

“Legislative Republicans have been laser-focused on covering up Gov. Walker’s political scandals. In doing so, they have undermined Wisconsin's tradition of good government and opened our state to fraud and corruption. Instead, Democrats believe we should be helping working families, investing in our communities and creating economic prosperity”, Shilling and Barca conclude.

This week, as the holidays draw near,  Sen. Kathleen Vinehout does an overview of the issues about which Wisconsin constituents contacted her.

ALMA - Happy Holidays! While Santa is making a list of who is naughty and nice, I spent time making a list of what folks cared about enough to call or write.

I am always impressed by how many people take the time to become engaged in their government. “Democracy” is truly a verb for the 7,007 individual people who communicated with me in 2015. Many offered their opinion not once but several times. My office recorded a total of 15,811 contacts with citizens.

This year was a budget year. It was also the year the Governor ran for President. Both had an influence on the amount and type of communication I received.

People did not favor the Governor’s budget. Many wrote on several budget issues. Seven topics really stood out based on the number of contacts I received.

Most concerning, in terms of a common complaint, was the Governor’s proposal to dramatically cut back SeniorCare. The program helps elders of modest means afford prescription drugs. The Governor wanted to replace Wisconsin’s program with Medicare Part D. Over 800 people contacted my office to oppose this plan. Many of these people had never contacted me before on any issue.

No one contacted me in favor of the plan. The immense amount of citizen involvement against the proposal led legislative leaders to drop SeniorCare changes!

Deep cuts to the University of Wisconsin System troubled many citizens. Over 250 people wrote specifically about the cuts to the UW System. Not one citizen wrote or called in favor of the cuts.

Changes at the Department of Natural Resources riled 145 people enough for them to contact me specifically asking to stop the changes, which included eliminating the powers of the Natural Resources Board, cutting DNR scientists and the stewardship program. Citizen action did help restore the powers of the boards at both Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The DNR is now suffering under budget cuts to its programs. No one contacted me in favor of these changes.

Over 100 people contracted me to oppose changes in FamilyCare and IRIS. This issue stands out as one that got people really engaged. Many wrote impressive and personal snail mail letters. Some came to the Capitol in wheelchairs and with caregivers. Others came to one of more than a dozen town hall meetings I held on the budget. For many people this was the first time they became involved in the political process. I received no contact from anyone in favor of the changes.

Changes to education, including teacher standards, cuts to public radio and television and changes to the public open records laws rounded out the list of major specific issues people took the time express an opinion. In every case, people expressed opposition to the governor’s budget provision.

In past years, some people always wrote in favor of some budget changes. This year was exceptional in that I received very little contact in favor of any part of the budget. I suspect the Governor’s run for President led to the ill-conceived proposals for which there was little vocal support.

On other legislative issues, the misnamed “Right to Work” bill garnered the most attention. Ninety three percent of over 300 citizens who contacted me were opposed to the bill. Next of concern were changes to the campaign finance laws and the elimination of the Government Accountability Board (GAB). Ninety percent who contacted me were opposed to these two bills.

Some folks are surprised when I describe about half my job as “social work”. By that, I mean listening and connecting people with resources to help solve their problems. Over 100 people contacted me with significant personal concerns. Some of the issues we assisted people with related to BadgerCare, unemployment insurance, DNR permits or other parts of state government.

A big thanks to my dedicated Senate staff: Linda Kleinschmidt, Ben Larson and Beau Stafford. In addition, thank you all who contacted me this year. You make democracy work!

Sending you and yours fond Holiday Greetings!

Report finds continuing regional disparities on cost, inflation, and quality. Wisconsin health insurance costs have more than tripled since 2000.

STATEWIDE - Citizen Action of Wisconsin released its 10th Annual Wisconsin Health Insurance Cost Ranking report Monday morning on a statewide media call. A full audio recording of the media call can be downloaded here.

The full report includes 11 charts ranking the cities and regions of Wisconsin on health insurance costs, rate of inflation, and quality, and can be downloaded here.

This year’s report finds wide disparities between higher and lower cost regions of Wisconsin, as well as large differences in the rate of health insurance inflation. There is a 30% variation in the for all types of health insurance for premiums and deductibles between the lowest cost metro area (Madison) and the highest cost area (Milwaukee), which amounts to a difference of $2,221.48 per year for single health coverage.

The magnitude of this gap could have significant economic consequences. The report finds that Wisconsin health insurance premiums for large and medium sized employers have more than tripled since 2000, increasing 216% since the year 2000 statewide, and as much 365% in some areas.

This year’s report also finds significant volatility on in the price for health insurance people buy on their own. There is also a $4,470 gap in annual premiums and deductibles between the highest cost area (Wausau) and the lowest cost (Madison) on the individual market.

The report recommends that policymakers in Madison make controlling health care costs a more central focus. The report notes that making better use of all the tools available under the Affordable Care Act, such as taking enhanced dollars for BadgerCare and implementing more robust health insurance rate review could begin the process of moderating health insurance premiums in Wisconsin. Other reforms which go beyond the Affordable Care Act such as more strictly regulating excessive prescription drug prices and surprise medical bills would also lower consumer costs.

“The striking numbers in this report make it clear that state policymakers need to move beyond the divisive debate over the Affordable Care Act and put a sharp focus on health care costs,” said Robert Kraig, the report lead author and the Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “Wisconsin workers and families will not have full control of their own health care decisions until we get health care costs under control.”

Key Findings: Wisconsin Health Insurance Cost Ranking 2016

• Wisconsin Health Care Hyperinflation is a Long Term Trend. Wisconsin large group health insurance costs (premiums and deductibles) have more than tripled since the year 2000, increasing 216% statewide, with regional rates of inflation varying between a low of 170% in Madison to highs of 365% in Green Bay, 254% in Oshkosh, 247% in Appleton, and 226% in Milwaukee, for benefits packages that is less generous.

• Southeastern and Central Wisconsin are Highest Cost Areas, Madison is Lower Cost. According to a new composite measure which combines all types of health insurance, Milwaukee, Racine, Wausau, have the highest costs in Wisconsin while Madison has the lowest.

• Regional Cost Disparities Persist. There continue to be wide cost variations between higher and lower cost areas of the state. The cost variation is even higher in our composite index for all types of health insurance than they are in the large group market. There is a 30% cost variation between the highest cost metro area (Milwaukee) and the lowest cost metro area (Madison), which amounts to a $2,221.48 difference for a single policy each year.

• Regional Cost Disparities Are Greatest on the Individual Market. Although there are large regional cost variations for all types of insurance, the biggest disparities are in the individual market. The highest cost areas (Wausau, Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, and Marshfield) are an astounding 69% higher than the lowest cost areas (Madison, Appleton, and Janesville/Beloit). This amounts to a gap of $4,470 per year for individual coverage.

• Disparities within Regions Suggest Underlying Medical Costs are Not the Only Driver of Insurance Costs. Insurers often claim that their prices merely reflect medical costs. However, there are major variations in relative cost within regions for different types of insurance. This suggest that the numbers measure not only underlying medical costs but also distortions in the insurance market. For example, the Fox Valley has above average insurance rates in large group insurance and well below average rates in the individual and small group markets. Wausau has very high costs for large group and individual market insurance, but relatively low costs in small group. Madison is not nearly as low in the small group market as it is for the other types of insurance. Eau Claire is high in all employer-based insurance, but below average on the individual market.

• Individual Market Costs Increased Substantially Statewide. There was a 28% increase statewide in premiums and deductibles combined from 2015-2016 .

• Striking Price Volatility on the Individual Market in a Major Policy Concern. Some metro areas had very large increases in cost from 2015 to 2016 while others actually saw reductions. Individual market prices increased by over 69% in Racine, and 60% in Milwaukee, while declining by over 8% in Madison and Janesville/Beloit. This 79% percent spread in inflation rates between Wisconsin cities is a warning sign that insurance rate setting practices may require greater scrutiny.

• Price Volatility is also a Concern on the Small Group Market. Although not as severe as the individual market, there were significant disparities in the rate of inflation between Wisconsin metro areas for small employers. While Green Bay and the Fox Valley saw greater than 10% increases, Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, and Marshfield saw cost reductions of over 12%.

• Cost and Quality are not Correlated. As in past reports, the 2016 report finds that there is no clear correlation between quality and health insurance costs, with some of the low cost areas of the state having higher quality insurance plans and some higher costs areas having lower quality plans.

Additional data and 11 ranking charts ranking each metro area in Wisconsin are available in the full report which can be downloaded here.

Today's Republican Party appears to be terminally ill. Gone is Reagan’s optimistic faith that our best days are ahead of us, replaced by a dark fatalism about America’s decline and eventual demise.

MADISON - When political parties die they don’t suffer heart attacks. They contract terminal illnesses. The end does not come abruptly. There is advance notice.

Notice has been given. The Republican Party appears to be terminally ill.

The GOP was the party of Lincoln. It was the party of Teddy Roosevelt. The party of Eisenhower. It was a party dedicated to creating opportunity for all. Today it’s given itself up to the 1%. Today’s Republicans clearly have lost confidence in their ability to peddle their ideas to another 49%, and have resorted to a dizzying array of voter suppression tactics to whittle down the size of the electorate and blatant manipulation of political boundaries in hopes of rigging election outcomes. But they still aren’t sure enough people will buy the feed-the-rich, screw-the-poor policies they are selling, so they desperately turn to shameless — and shameful — appeals to racism and xenophobia to dredge up enough energy to stay alive.

Gone is Reagan’s optimistic faith that our best days are ahead of us, replaced by a dark fatalism about America’s decline and eventual demise. A true love of country and a sincere belief in the inscription on the Statue of Liberty have given way to paranoid obsessions with walls and borders and surveillance.

The Republican Party has lost its way. It has become a party that deserves to die.

It tends to be forgotten that parties have died before. It tends to be forgotten that the American experiment was underway for three quarters of a century before the Republican Party was born. It tends to be forgotten that the GOP’s birth in the 1850s coincided with the death of one of the two major parties at the time. Slavery not only divided the nation, it divided the Whig Party. The Whigs lost their leader in Illinois, none other than Abraham Lincoln, along with most of their northern supporters. The party could not survive the injury.

Like the ill-fated Whigs of the 19th Century, today’s Republicans have lost their right of association with Lincoln. They no longer sound anything like Teddy Roosevelt. They no longer act anything like Eisenhower. They try to evoke Reagan’s memory, but have grown estranged from his ways.

The signs are clear and conspicuous. The Republican Party is on the verge of flatlining.

Mike McCabe of Blue Jean Nation makes the point that Democrats (and Progressives) may gain more in the long run by standing up for their values than by being "smart" campaigners.

MADISON - A great football coach once said “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

That line is often attributed to legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. Lombardi wasn’t the first to say it. Maybe he heard it first from college football coach Red Sanders, who said it close to a decade before Lombardi made the aphorism famous. Maybe he lifted his signature saying from the 1953 John Wayne movie Trouble Along the Way. It’s doubtful Lombardi actually believed winning is the only thing. Roughly three years after he made the “only thing” remark, he was quoted in a magazine article offering an amended version: “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.”

Good coaches are good teachers, and they realize that more can be learned from a loss than a win. They tend to see long winning streaks as fool’s gold, because they know from experience that bad habits have a way of forming while their teams are stringing together wins, and those habits are only exposed as damaging after they lead to a defeat.

So it is in politics. You win some and you lose some. But when you lose, you need to lose with a purpose. Something has to be gained from every defeat. Seeds planted during today’s loss grow into the fruits of tomorrow’s victory. How you lose is what defines you.

In recent times, Republicans have lost much more purposefully than Democrats. Democratic Party dominance in the 1960s and especially Barry Goldwater’s landslide loss in 1964 inspired the 1971 Powell Memo that was a blueprint for a merger of corporation and state and an accompanying Republican renaissance.

The Democratic establishment’s response to what the Powell Memo has wrought has been curious to say the least. I wrote in my book Blue Jeans in High Places about a young woman in rural Wisconsin who ran for a seat in the state Assembly. Democratic operatives coached her to avoid being pinned down on issues and to steer clear of controversial stands. The Democrats’ nominee for governor similarly advised her to be as vague as possible on the issues and said her job as a candidate was to be “present and pleasant.” She followed the script. She lost.

In fact, the Democrats lost twice in that instance. Not only was that election lost, but nothing was said or done to get voters to start thinking differently or challenge the other side’s orthodoxy. Nothing was said or done to create conditions favorable to winning the next election.

Since my book was published, I’ve lost count of the number of former candidates for state and federal offices who have told me they received the same coaching. They followed the same script. They also lost. Twice. Democrats across the country are making a habit of running scared for the sake of “electability” . . . and losing anyway.

You lose in politics sometimes. But every loss has to have a purpose. There was a purpose to Goldwater’s defeat. Present and pleasant serves no purpose.