Our budget proposes
switching to the self-insurance model for providing health insurance to Wisconsin state employees. This means we’d pay employee health care claims
directly via a third party administrator, rather than pay monthly premiums to
an insurance provider.
The great news for
state employees is there would be little to no disruption for current enrollees
because these third-party administrators are all providers under our current
fully-insured system.
It’s also great news
for Wisconsinites because, under this model, we’ll save taxpayers $60 million
at least over the next two years. That’s real money we plan to reinvest in our
public schools.
But that can only
happen if lawmakers pass our self-insurance proposal, and there’s talk they plan to reject it. If you ask me, that’s a step in the wrong
direction. They want to dismiss $60 million worth of proven savings at a time
when many are asking us to spend even more money.
Switching to
self-insurance is a step in the right direction – it’s backed by the
experts and
46 other states throughout the nation are successfully using it.
That's on top of the
fact that self-insurance allows us to realize substantial savings. Savings we
can to invest in priorities that make Wisconsin stronger, such as student
success. Preparing our students today for the workforce of tomorrow is one of
the most important things we can do to ensure Wisconsin continues to move
forward.
We hope JFC leaders
agree, and we urge them to approve these contracts and invest the savings in
our public schools.
Just as the Wisconsin
Badgers are part of the Big 10 Conference, Wisconsin is now considered one of
the “Big 10” when it comes to best states in the nation for business.
Chief Executive Magazine recently announced Wisconsin is ranked the 10th
best state in the nation for business.
We’ve come a long way.
Before we took office, Wisconsin was among the 10 worst states for
business, ranked 41st in the nation. But thanks to our reforms, we’ve
moved up an impressive 31 spots to 10th best in the nation.
We worked hard to move
Wisconsin forward and into the top 10 best states in the country. We did it by
cutting taxes, putting the power back into the hands of Wisconsin workers, and
enacting common-sense, conservative reforms.
We’re proud to be in
the top 10 states for business and we’re here to stay.
We enjoy sharing all the great news about our state with you. It is an honor to serve as your Governor and represent the people of Wisconsin.
Sincerely,
 Governor Scott Walker
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