Management Weighs in to Support

Healthy Wisconsin

(Letter to the Editor)

Healthy Wisconsin Will Work for Everyone

       What if every time that you were injured and went to the doctor, the bills were all paid?

       That is how it works when someone is injured at work, and that is because in 1911,

       Wisconsin led the nation in enacting the first ever workers compensation system and that

       system not only works well today, but it has been copied by every other state as well.

       After working in Human Resources for the past 30 years and watching healthcare costs

       rise like crude oil, one can only imagine where it will all end.

       In a magazine I was reading recently, Mike Brewer, the President of Lockton Benefit

       Group, based in Kansas City, said, “while employment based insurance continues to

       erode, there will be some dramatic and sweeping change in the health care delivery

       system.” Brewer goes on to say, “When the health care cost increases become more

       intolerable than the thought of a radical change to the health care system … a radical

       change will happen.” I think that day is coming on the horizon.

       If you do not think that healthcare is a problem, why do the automakers pay more for

       healthcare than they do for steel in their vehicles? Why has the percentage of employees

       covered by employment-based health insurance plans dropped for the sixth consecutive

       year, now covering less than 60% of employees? Why is the single largest budget line

       item for local governments, healthcare? Something has to be done, and soon.

       As David Newby, President of the State AFL-CIO expressed in a recent editorial, this is

       not a partisan issue. This problem affects everyone and it needs to be addressed by

       everyone.

       There are some that are using fear to “spin” the Healthy Wisconsin idea as a healthcare

       tax. You notice they are not attacking the plan, only the way it is funded. Well, call it a

       tax or call it what I call it my healthcare premium, it all means the same thing.

       Healthcare premiums are a huge cost for employers and employees alike.

       I keep hearing about this large tax increase proposed by the State Democrats. As a

       lifelong Republican, any time I see an 800 employee company saving $4 - $5 million

       each year from a program, I say call it whatever you want, but sign us up first. For the

       naysayer’s, I say do the math. A $15 billion “tax increase” accompanied by an even

       greater “tax refund” in the form of lower healthcare premiums is a Godsend!

       First there were the old indemnity plans; then came deductibles; then the deductibles

       were raised; then co-pays were added; then employee contributions were added; then the

       deductibles and co-pays were raised; then the contributions were raised; and now we

       have health reimbursement and health savings accounts. Around the corner are the carve

       outs and health risk assessments that say that only the healthy should be insured, but no

       one squawks until someone comes up with a simple single payer idea that makes one plan

       for all Wisconsinites. The idea is so simple that it sounds like 1911 all over. Actually,

       based on what I have seen, heard, and read lately, I am convinced that Wisconsin would

       not have created the first workers compensation system if it were up to us today.

       What is the difference between the 1911 workers compensation initiative and the 2007

       Healthy Wisconsin initiative? It is a matter of who is driving the program. There is a lot

       of money at stake in this contest. A single payer system, with one plan that covers all

       Wisconsinites, sounds too good to be true, but it is the way to go.

       The health and dental premiums, 401 (k) plans, pension plans, life insurance plans,

       tuition reimbursement plans, paid holidays and vacations, are what all of us larger

       employers, have always been paying as a cost of doing business in Wisconsin. I never

       heard it called a “tax” until someone saw their train pulling out of the station without

       them on it.

       Healthy Wisconsin in its present form is real close to the answer. Calling it a “tax”

       without any compromise is not the answer. I think both sides need someone to mediate

       this dispute. There is too much at stake. Reducing healthcare premiums by millions of

       dollars each year, will not reduce jobs in Wisconsin, it will without a doubt bring new

       businesses to Wisconsin because we will have the lowest healthcare costs in the nation.

       That is what I thought economic growth was all about?

       Having everyone covered by the same plan, and having everyone pay their own way

       always made sense to me.

      Mike Rayome

      Human Resources

      Graphic Packaging International, Inc.

      Wausau, Wisconsin