|
 |
3/10/2010
Should more local governments re-examine health insurance options?
Duh. Yes!!! Some tremendous pieces have received great play this week. People respond to monetary incentives. EVEN when it comes to health care. Imagine that.
Monday’s FoxPolitics News included an amazing piece by Alan Borsuk that appeared in Sunday’s Journal Sentinel. Rob Henken, with the Public Policy Forum, discusses Borsuk’s ‘intriguing’ simple solution to saving MPS $millions in insurance costs.
Henken takes the Borsuk discussion further, touting pieces of the Forum’s recent report on the potential restructuring of Milwaukee County government. at Milwaukee County health care offerings.
Like MPS, the county provides a Preferred Provider Option (PPO) that offers access to a wide network of providers with co-pays and deductibles, as well as a traditional HMO option. Unlike MPS, however, the county charges much higher monthly premiums to subscribe to the PPO plan. For example, union employees pay $35 per month for an individual and $70 for a family for the HMO, and $75/$150 for the PPO.
Largely because of this cost differential (as well as, perhaps, the robust nature of the HMO plan), we found that 81% of the 4,322 active county health care subscribers selected the HMO plan in 2009. Conversely, of the 5,996 retired health care subscribers, who pay no monthly premium and, therefore, are not incentivized by lower premium co-payments to select the HMO, 71% selected the PPO plan. That plan costs about $2,000 more annually for families and $5,000 more for individuals.
Read the whole of Henken’s piece. He closes with mention of the Green Bay Press Gazette article also included in Monday’s FP News – Public employee health benefits squeeze taxpayers. Good stuff. Heaven knows, we may be getting somewhere on controlling public employee compensation costs!
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
I hope and pray you are right that some level of fiscal sensibility is coming to our public sector compensation plans.
I have great reservation whether we're "there" yet as an entire generation of 'entitled' employees have come up through the ranks and none of them know what the real world is like ... nor do they care to acknowledge that self-reliance and performance-based rewards are the way things should be done. Their mindset is that we should make the private sector more like them rather than minimalizing their impact on the taxpayers. In order to get everyone working together on cutting lavish plans, they first have to "get" free enterprise / capitalism for what it is - the engine that drives their nice social programs which can never be more than icing on the cake.
Jeff (Wed Mar 10 06:58:03 2010)
I agree. A non-partisan group should be established to determine what amount of pay/benefits package is fair to the worker AND fair to the taxpayer, using private pay as a guideline and cap. The problem now is that pay to workers is established by people who have no skin in the game, so whatever they give to their fellow workers gets it off their desk and they look like good guys to all.
They other issue is that government departments have no sunset provisions and thus once established go on forever. They should establish a board of private business managers to review the purpose and effectiveness of all current departments, and eliminate or revamp those that are not needed anymore.
As well, we should eliminate frivolous privatizing. At the federal level we pay private (Blackwater) troops/mercenaries triple what what we pay our own troops because they are (a) off the books, and (b) are part of the system of graft and campaign contributions. (So much for private being more efficient than public.) Unless they can come in a a lower cost they don't get hired.
And that goes to state contracts as well.
We should allow politicians to opt into a system that, if they agree to take only public funding for their campaigns AND they run the budget wisely (with zero deficit and low taxes) they can increase their own salaries by up to 100%. An incentive pay plan like the rest of us have.
Jack Lohman (Wed Mar 10 08:07:56 2010)
We agree on many of your thoughts Jack. Problem with any of us offering solutions is the need for collective bargaining in all of this - accompanied by med/arb and a situation where the taxpayers are seen as a limitless source of revenue.
Jo (Wed Mar 10 20:29:15 2010)
How many employees of any stripe know the cost of their health care? I've encountered public employees who know more about it than their private counterparts. Even though the taxpayers pay for public health care benefits the lack of knowledge of the costs of health care at public or private sectors and the disconnect between provider, payer and consumer hurts everyone because it masks what really goes on in our abomination of a health care system. The real savings do not lie with the consumer (ie consumption choices) they lie with the the underlying costs per procedure and the fee for service mechanisms. Consumers should be encouraged to use health care wisely but too often lowering usage is sadly and simply a consequence of increasing the costs to the consumer rather than anything that equates deliberate choice about efficient uses. Blame the consumer is easy and mostly false. Blaming the system is complicated and doesn't feel as good but is much more accurate. Sure, make the consumer more responsible. But when we save that 5% or whatever it is in real savings, how do we get to the other 40%?
dave allen (Wed Mar 10 21:40:45 2010)
Dave, the way we get to real savings -- cutting out the waste and overutilization -- is with a socialized or Medicare-for-all system. Other countries have achieved this and spend half our costs. But just to make clear, we do not accept other country's successes as our guide. (More accurately, campaign contributions have blocked change here.)
Jack Lohman (Thu Mar 11 07:52:07 2010)
Jack,
I agree wholeheartedly.This country has forgotten how to look at the best that others have to offer and adopt it ourselves. Yes, many other countries show us the way but we refuse to consider their success, rather we mock them and decry the challenges they face even though our challenges are far far greater. Although money is the greatest influence in terms of legislation, make no mistake that most Americans do not ever see how our system really works until it is too late for them. There are lots of people who go to bed at night secure in their belief that other systems are "socialist" and therefore not worthy of any investigation. Yes, the moral, courageous, self reliant American making his or her own way in the world, self reliant, of good health habits, thrifty not in need of anything society offers other than hard work. That is the philosophy of many. Unfortunately like the ideal "Man" envisioned by philosophers of different stripes, such Man doesn't exist across societies and to try to create a health care system around this ideal Man is folly. Let's get on with it, beg, borrow and steal the best ideas of the others, like they steal our ideas. Let's get on with it.
dave allen (Thu Mar 11 13:06:58 2010)
Dave, Winston Churchill once said, "America will always do the right thing, but only after everything else fails."
Jack Lohman (Thu Mar 11 13:20:09 2010)
|
|
Blog Archives
| 2010 |
  December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
• Solberg: Healing After an Abortion
• Basketball fans eyeing extension of Miller Park sales tax
• Nanny sex-ed bill goes to Doyle
• A first. Village limits pension contribution for employees
• Nanny State update: Toothbrushing mandated
• Obama pushes education inflation
• WI Investment Board votes to borrow to juice up returns
• So Republicans have brought nothing to the table?
• You have got to be kidding me
• Nygren: Governor Continues Terms of Failure in State of the State
• Sen. Fitzgerald: Governor down the wrong track at high speed
• Phosphorus is the new CO2. $Billions in Wisconsin
• More Obama giveaways
• A reprimand? Would you keep him on the job?
• Burri: Sarah Palin for Prez troubles me
• Quote of the Day – Obama after the pie-eating contest
• Populism, abused and trampled
• Fitzgerald: Senate Republicans Propose Real Job Creation Agenda
• Stripped down health insurance – it’s about time
• Ok GOP, scrap the Party of NO; time to lead
• No way Feingold is a Coakley. Is Wall a Brown?
• Burri: Conservatives off the chart for a RINO?
• Paltry quid pro quo?
• Doyle says ARRA has ‘created or retained’ 44,000 WI jobs
• Does most of the public fall for this stuff?
• When you get signatures, always get a couple extra
• Blame it on the outmoded computers
• Scott Brown victory does not scuttle health bill
• 8th Congressional Candidate Forum, Jan. 25
• Scott Walker Meet-and-greet, Monday, Jan. 18
• Aren’t consumers taxpayers too?
• MORE taxes on investment income - dreadful and wrong
• Join the blaze orange army and say ‘Enough is Enough’
• The future of government-run health care
• Tax on banks is a really bad idea
• Roth, Savard on the stump, grassroots style
• Savard speaking in Appleton, 8 PM, Wed., Jan. 13.
• Rahmlow: Savard, Bies frontrunners for State Senate
• Burri: Failing Political Correctness 101
• School contracts and Race to the Top
• Senator Feingold worrisome and big red flags
• Psephological?
• This is really important. Contact Rep. Kagen. Now. Please.
• This is exactly what we need from Governor Doyle
• This guy is my hero
• Why am I not surprised?
• Talk health reform with Feingold (Th), Petri (today)
• Give the Mayor power over MPS - if he can break contracts
• Burri: Yup, Dems really are going to bypass a conference
• The $2.7 billion Wisconsin deficit no one told you about
• Walker launches county accountability website
• Rahmlow: Why is Van Hollen dodging the Nebraska deal?
|
| 2009 |
December
|
November
|
October
• The Lawton-Bader files
• Yup, it’s the TAX LEVY, not the tax RATE
• Ellis: costly automobile insurance laws must be rolled back
• If not Barrett, who?
• The subsidy game
• Burri: Bailouts, Banks, Health Care, and the Mob
• Attend Appleton Schools budget meeting tonight
• A public option WON’T increase costs? That’s delusional!
• Appleton Schools budget meeting Monday
• Wisconsin should be screaming for accountability
• Burri: If anything, we need more obstructionism around here
• WI on the leading edge - in the wrong direction
• Rep. Montgomery: Utility Customers Join State’s Crime-Fighting Efforts
• Public Conservation and Recreation Lands Total 16.5% of State
• In the crow's nest of the Titanic, shouting 'Iceberg!'
• Is Rep. Nelson a political hack?
• Health care: The road ahead will be brutal
• Kagen's pandering again
• Birthers - good stuff for you
• How much do we bend over backward for seniors?
• The trouble with health care is paying for it
• Two-parent families: The Gold Standard
• Burri: Kids... the joys and blessings
• Very, very worried about health care
• Rep. Huebsch: Wisconsin is proof government health care isn’t the answer
• School district contracts push up tax levy
• What? Obama, the Peace Prize?
• TODAY - hearing on Campaign Finance Reform
• Appleton School District tax levy up way too much
• CBO report is out - and the bill isn't even written yet?
• So, how much do YOU budget for health care?
• Burri: Copenhagen trip was amateurish
• “Sotomayor, you have blood on your hands...”
• Cap and Trade. Always follow the money
• Rep. Kagen gets (almost) free health services
• I actually agree with Rep. Kagen
• Future Wisconsin Conference for Conservatives, October 10, Wauwatosa
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
|
| 2008 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
• Important votes Tuesday, including Appleton Common Council
• Democrats are becoming supply siders??
• Further debunking Hillary myths
• WEAC has created an unsustainable monopoly
• From Mark Gundrum: One of the greatest honors an American can experience
• 'Operation Chaos' working?
• Joe Martin the best candidate in Appleton's 8th
• State programs to cut? - Volume II
• Oh the naivete of youth
• Not just disingenuous - flat wrong
• Steve - you will be missed
• Make cuts only AFTER you're elected....
• Getting serious: What programs can we cut?
• Rep. Steve Kagen joining me on Jerry Bader Show today
• Rep. Van Roy: Dental Care Pilot Program
• Has Dave Obey turned the corner on earmarks?
• Speaker Huebsch: Governor turns down Federal Aid?
• Mark Rahmlow: "We're Broke."
• As taxpayers, how do we know if it's a Chevy or a Lexus?
• This is trash talk - about a veteran
• Frank Lasee: Take time to get the Compact right
• 'The Gableman Ad' - is it racist?
• Roth thankful, Kagen shaking money tree
• Gov. Doyle's office not enamored with Freedom of Information
• Governor Doyle will never do it
• Leadership on smoking ban? Not Hanna
• Rep. Van Roy speaks out about smear ads
• You're threatening me about potholes?
• Losing the Hastert seat is NOT a trend and NOT curtians for the GOP
• First suggestion for 'slashing' programs
• Big money-saver for municipalities
• More one time fixes. Nuts.
• Any chances???
• I'm doing the Jerry Bader Show, today, the 11th
• Representative Frank Lasee: Final Waltz of the Season
• Guest Blog: It's not the county's business to be in the nursing home business
• Yup, Hillary won Texas and Ohio
• Gableman/Butler race featured - and it isn't pretty
• Lies from Planned Parenthood and NARAL
• He who sacrifices liberty.....
• Duh.
• The Troha sentencing, Doyle and that $200K
• Guns, passion and "originality"
• How hard is it anyway, to shut down a government program?
• Voting is a PRIVILEGE. And so are property taxes....
• Guest Blog: Governor Doyle, cancel your Ireland trip
|
February
|
January
|
| 2007 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
• Lots of ideas. No money.
• The Cigarette Tax - "Poor Policy Instrument?"
• School budget Lite?
• Frankenstein - not in the library, but in the legislature
• A librarian, a legislator, a president
• $1.25/pack - NO, NO, NO, and NO
• Kagen and Reagan in the same breath?
• Menasha: behind the 8-ball, but not biting the dust
• Any way you slice it, Wisconsin government wants (further) in on health care
• The World is Flat...what about health care?
• The PAC - too precious to fail. Day 3
• News follow-ups: Appleton West, Kagen at the White House
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail - Day 2
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail
• New Transit Tax coming your way
• Rep. Petri has his finger in the dike - I guess
• AASD Retirement Costs Burdensome
• Health care, health care, health care, health care
• Water rate increase was no slam dunk
• Education for all is just a bad dream
• New Year's resolutions from a parade snob
|
| 2006 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
| 2000 |
May
|
|
