Wisconsin health insurers held to 80-percent requirement
The Obama White House said no Thursday, Feb. 16, to letting Wisconsin phase in a new federal rule that requires health insurers to spend 80 percent of their premium revenues on actual care.
The state Insurance Commissioner’s office said the new rule would force insurers to leave the Wisconsin market, and that about 180,000 people who buy their own coverage would be hurt as a result.
But federal officials said the state did not provide enough data to prove its claim. In fact, Washington said 12 of the 15 insurers that provide individual coverage in Wisconsin are already spending 80 percent of their premiums on care – or close to it. And all but one of the other three companies were expected to meet the standard last year.
The Madison group ABC for Health praised the ruling, calling it a “win for Wisconsin consumers.” Bobby Peterson of the ABC group said the state was trying to protect insurers who offer the least value.
State Insurance Commissioner Ted Nickel called the decision “puzzling.” He said four companies that insure individuals had already left the state’s marketplace.
Fitzgerald disbands Senate mining committee
The state Legislature's Joint Finance Committee set a public hearing for 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17, the Capitol on the Assembly's version of the mining bill.
The finance panel was thrown into the mining debate Thursday when Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald tossed out a more moderate version of the bill that would let Gogebic Taconite start an iron ore mine in Ashland and Iron counties.
Fitzgerald called his move a last-ditch effort to pass some kind of mining bill before lawmakers adjourn for the year in mid-March. He said he won't let the clock run out on what he called a "generation of good-paying jobs."
The softer bill was meant to address some of the fiscal and environmental issues that were raised. That package came Monday from a special Senate committee, which Fitzgerald disbanded Thursday.
The special committee also canceled a hearing the panel would have held Friday in Platteville. The chairman of the disbanded committee, Elkhorn Republican Neal Kedzie, threw his support behind Fitzgerald.
He agreed it was the only way to get something passed at this late date.
But Fitzgerald will have to get at least one Senate Democrat to support the mining bill, something that didn't happen when the Assembly passed it last month.
Senate Republican Dale Schultz of Richland Center said he would vote no to the Assembly package. He opposes giving the state 40 percent of the sales tax revenue from the ore the new mine would generate.
Schultz also said the Assembly bill budgets nothing for problems the facility might cause.
Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch, who represents the area of the proposed Gogebic mine, called Fitzgerald's move a "sell-out" to the mining company.
Gogebic Taconite has threatened not to proceed with the mine if a bill doesn't pass by next month. Company president Bill Williams did not comment on Thursday's developments.