Statements from Legislators

Cooperatives to Make Group Coverage Available

November 10, 2003
Rep. Curt Gielow 608-266-0486

Passage of legislation enables pilot project to help more people obtain affordable coverage

Madison - I'm pleased to announce that the Legislature has approved a proposal to create a new mechanism for people and small businesses seeking to purchase group health insurance. This project will help an old tool - cooperatives - to help meet a modern challenge: helping individuals and small companies benefit from group health insurance rather than just being able to choose from the individual coverage plans available.

I have authored (with Senator Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls) a proposal to allow creation of cooperatives for the purchasing of health insurance. The cooperatives are expected to help small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individuals in forming groups purchase health care coverage more affordably. The bill would provide for five pilot cooperatives to be set up along the lines of cooperatives that have played such a large role in farming and in rural power generation. The Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives would assume responsibility for organizing the coops and helping them deal with insurers and with OCI.

In June I introduced the proposal as Senate Bill 204 with Harsdorf and as Assembly Bill 447 (AB 447) in my own house of the Legislature. The proposal has enjoyed broad bipartisan support and has progressed rapidly in the process. Last week (on November 6th) SB 204 passed both the State Senate and the State Assembly.

This clears the way for the Coops Federation to start working with OCI and forming the coops. Again, the proposal will allow up to five health care purchasing cooperatives to be formed in Wisconsin in rural and urban areas. The Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives will oversee the formation of the cooperatives.

• These cooperatives would bring small firms, farmers, the self-employed, and nonprofit groups together into groups than can negotiate with insurers and purchase health care as a group for people who cannot now do so.

The advantage of the plan is that insurers can serve large groups better and more affordably than they can serves individuals and small groups.

In addition, large groups are better able to negotiate with insurers for coverage.

The Federation of Cooperatives is working to secure a federal grant that will help the co-ops meet the costs of health coverage under the program for an initial period, helping further reduce participants' costs.

A similar program is underway in Minnesota under the guidance of the Minnesota Association of Cooperatives, which is affiliated with the Wisconsin cooperative group.

I believe this is a significant health care innovation. The goal is to help people get affordable coverage, but also to put in place a new model for getting coverage. The cooperative model has worked for farmers and electrical cooperatives for many years. It can help get more people better health coverage. It's just common sense, but I'm very pleased to have the bill passed and work on the idea beginning.

SB 204 now goes to Governor Jim Doyle for his signature. Doyle has said he will sign the provision into law. After that, the Federation of Cooperatives will take the lead in making this project a reality. I look forward to working with them and with OCI and with coverage providers on making this happen.

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Petrowski Strengthens Child Passenger Safety

Introduces Measure to Protect Children in Vehicles

Madison - Children will be safer when they ride in the car if legislation offered by State Representative Jerry Petrowski becomes law. Petrowski, along with a bipartisan group of legislators, is proposing to strengthen Wisconsin's child passenger safety laws, laws that have been criticized as lax in the past.

"We see, on average, more than 2,000 Wisconsin children killed or injured every year in vehicle crashes. We need to ensure that children are properly secured in the vehicle and that parents learn how to keep their children safe when they are in the car," said Petrowski (Marathon).

"Young children are certainly not aware of their vulnerability when they get in a motor vehicle." Petrowski said that while drivers in Wisconsin can already be stopped for not having their children buckled up, the laws are weak and don't sufficiently address the safety of children that have outgrown infant car seats. Petrowski's bill, Assembly Bill 724, would require that children be secured in size-appropriate child restraint systems. "Just because a toddler has grown out of a car seat does not mean they are ready to simply be buckled with an adult-sized seat belt," said Petrowski. "At a minimum, children that have outgrown the infant car seat should be secured in a booster seat until they grow into the regular lap belt-should harness combination."

Petrowski noted that Wisconsin has lost federal transportation incentive dollars by having child passenger safety laws that hover near the worst in the nation. The bill establishes standards for securing children in passenger vehicles.

In 2001, the National Safe Kids Campaign ranked Wisconsin in the bottom 10 states nationwide for our laws related to protecting children in motor vehicles.

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The Medicare Bill

Congressman F. Lames Sensenbrenner

Reforming our nation's Medicare system and providing individuals with affordable health care coverage, have been top priorities of Republicans in Congress this year. After intense debate, during the early hours of Saturday, November 22, the House of Representatives passed HR 1, the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003, with my support. A few days later, the Senate followed the House's lead, and earlier today, the President signed this legislation into law.

HR 1 incorporates language from a bill I introduced earlier this year, the Healthcare Empowerment for Local Personnel and Teachers (HELP Teachers) Act. The HELP Teachers Act was introduced to allow employees of county and local governments, as well as private and public schools, to be eligible to maintain tax-free savings accounts that can be used to pay for healthcare expenses. This expansion of eligibility was necessary because before the passage of HR 1, these accounts were largely limited to self-employed individuals and those working for small businesses.

With the passage of HR 1, these medical accounts have been expanded and modified, and are now referred to as Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). HSAs will help families gain better access to quality health care and save for medical costs through tax-deductible contributions. They will give individuals the power and personal control to save for their own health care needs through tax-free savings accounts solely to be used for health care coverage. This plan will work in conjunction with low premium and high deductible insurance coverage. Individuals would build assets in HSAs through employer as well as employee contributions. Most important, the individual will own the account, and the savings will follow the individual from job to job and into retirement.

I have always supported the concept of medical or health savings accounts because they are sensible and versatile financial planning tools. By offering them more control over their healthcare decisions, HSAs will help lower overall health costs for Americans. Contributions to HSAs will also be tax deductible, as will withdrawals used for deductible medical expenses. Moreover, due to their low premium costs, HSAs will be attractive to the uninsured. Health Savings Accounts are but one of the reasons why HR 1 will help our seniors in Wisconsin.

Though not a perfect bill, for the first time in the history of the Medicare program, seniors will be provided with access to a voluntary prescription drug benefit -- which will help over 800,000 beneficiaries in Wisconsin. However, to promote competition, private insurance plans will still be available to seniors under HR 1, and federal benefits to seniors will be provided according to an income-based formula.

To help seniors with their steep prescription drug costs, Congress negotiated a compromise, and by definition, a compromise implies that no one will be happy with everything that's in the law. To be sure, I am not pleased with all the provisions in this legislation. But I do believe that by providing them with much-needed relief, this law will help a majority of our seniors as they struggle to meet their escalating medical costs.

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New Licensure Requirements for Older Drivers Needed

by State Representative Sheldon Wasserman

In the 1997-1999 state budget, the driver's license renewal cycle for regular licenses was extended from 4 years to 8 years. While this extension is a convenience for Wisconsin drivers and a cost-saver for the state, it was a bad public policy decision.

Wisconsin is among just a handful of states with an 8-year or longer renewal cycle. It is the only one of these states besides Oregon without special provisions for older drivers. Twenty-two states overall have licensure renewal limits that are unique to the elderly.

I believe that any able person should be permitted to drive in Wisconsin. However, in looking at driving statistics, it is clear that elderly drivers should be tested more often. Our oldest drivers have a higher accident rate per miles driven than nearly every other age group except for teenagers.

Over the past two years I have heard the opinions of ophthalmologists and other medical professionals regarding Wisconsin law. Of particular concern is that reports to the Department of Transportation (DOT) regarding unsafe drivers cannot be anonymous, which raises doctor-patient confidentiality issues. With their input and in consultation with the DOT, I have drafted Assembly Bill 575. This legislation strikes a balance between the public's interest and older citizens' driving privileges, in a way that I hope will increase roadway safety.

Assembly Bill 575 stipulates that the driver's license of a person between 75 and 94 years of age expires every two years; at the time of renewal the person is required to take a vision test and a written test to demonstrate his or her grasp of traffic laws. Additionally, if a driver in this age group commits a moving violation he or she must take an on-road skills test before his or her license is renewed.

The license of a person who is over the age of 95 expires annually. Each year the person must pass a vision exam and take an on-road driving skills test to renew the license. The bill also applies to commercial licenses, such as those issued for bus drivers.

As physicians, we are well aware of the challenges that the aging process presents. We also know that 47% of people age 85 and over have Alzheimer's disease. However, many individuals, as they grow older, are unknowingly experiencing its adverse affects, or the side affects of medication. Our population continues to age at an increasing rate, and it is vitally important that we take steps to monitor elderly citizens' driving abilities.

State government has addressed concerns regarding younger drivers by implementing a graduated driver licensing law. My legislation focuses on the opposite end of the age spectrum. It is a work in progress that I hope will inspire debate and action on the matter.

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