Following Up on the Mid-term Elections

Typhoon. Landslide. Seismic shift. These were some of the metaphors used to describe the results of the November 2 mid-term elections. The shift in power in many parts of the country raises more questions and continues to fuel the fires of the debate about how health care reform will unfold.

Although Governor-elect Scott Walker has announced that Wisconsin will join in the lawsuit challenging certain provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as a practical matter, planning for many aspects of health care reform implementation continues — most notably exploration of options for an insurance exchange in Wisconsin.

The Alliance Health Policy Committee met with outgoing Department of Health Services Secretary Karen Timberlake on November 11 to provide feedback on options for Wisconsin’s insurance exchange. Consistent with our health policy platform, we encouraged policymakers to make the exchange a vehicle that helps control costs and increase transparency of information. We also stressed the importance of pursuing strategies that will accomplish these goals for all citizens of Wisconsin, not only those who are eligible to purchase health insurance through the exchange.

The Health Policy Committee is in the process of drafting a resolution regarding the design of health insurance exchanges that will articulate the priorities of Alliance members. Once drafted, the resolution will be sent to The Alliance Board of Directors for review and approval.  Watch for a copy of this resolution in an upcoming issue of The Alliance News.  We will use this resolution as we introduce The Alliance to the many new legislators who will take office next year.

We will keep you up to date on our priorities and opportunities for you to get involved on a larger scale by providing comments or taking action on the issues that we know will help move health care forward.