The Chamber

Health Care

The rising cost of health care is a significant factor in the ability of businesses to compete in the world marketplace and attract the best workforce. Cost containment efforts should be focused on engaging consumers in health care purchasing decisions, improving quality, increasing benefit flexibility and choices, minimizing cost shifting, reforming medical malpractice liability and improved information technology.

State Priorities

1. Align state tax deductibility for health savings accounts with federal tax code.

2. Address Medicaid reimbursement shortfalls and cost shifting in Western Wisconsin.

3. Tax credits for workplace wellness programs.

4. Improve the collection and analysis of health care outcome data, make quality transparent and encourage consumers, business purchasers, and insurance companies to direct resources to providers who demonstrate a commitment to patient safety, improving quality, and reducing unnecessary or inappropriate treatment.

Federal Priorities

1. Continue to support bipartisan legislation encouraging widespread adoption of Health IT and work to include in it a national standard for E-prescribing, a paperless approach that would reduce administration costs and human errors in prescribing and dispensing prescriptions.

2. Support linking physician Medicare reimbursements to performance-driven benchmarks and adherence to best practices. Physician reimbursement rates currently are set by a sustainable growth rate formula that needs comprehensive reform. WI looses under the current formula.

3. Support stand-alone legislation that offers tax credits for employer-sponsored workplace wellness programs for employees.

4. Support changes in Health Savings Accounts to make them more flexible and appealing to consumers and plan sponsors.

5. Support legislation that gives small businesses and individuals the option to purchase health benefits with the same tax advantages that large businesses have, pool together to leverage purchasing power, participate in benefits plans that are not burdened with costly state mandates, and permit the owners of small businesses to participate in their companies’ benefits plan.

6. Enact medical liability reform to reduce lawsuit abuse

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