Dr. Vipond issues statement on Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce healthcare announcement
BROOKFIELD, WIS. (August 7, 2018) – Dr. Jennifer Hoppe Vipond, Republican candidate for Wisconsin’s Fifth Congressional District, issued the following statement on a recent healthcare policy announcement by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.
“WMC’s approach, while helpful in reducing insurance expense, still requires a sustainable approach to healthcare cost containment,” says Dr. Vipond, who is running to replace Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner in the August 14 GOP primary.
“While the WMC approach will help reduce the cost of insurance, if you read carefully, it accomplishes that by decreasing the amount of coverage,” Dr. Vipond says. “It does not address the real problem, which is the skyrocketing cost of healthcare. We cannot just keep removing covered benefits and call it a win. We need to control the actual cost of healthcare.”
Dr. Vipond agrees with WMC President and CEO Kurt R. Bauer, when he says “containing healthcare costs for employers has been a problem for business for decades….” But she adds that most healthcare policies in Washington have focused on insurance rather than cost containment.
“In fact, in WMC’s most recent economic survey, rising health care costs were second only to labor availability as a major public policy concern,” according to WMC’s Bauer.
Health care, Bauer said, is a “double-edged sword” for businesses that are already experiencing a shortage in the available labor pool. “They need to offer competitive benefits to attract quality employees, but the rising costs of insurance have made that a major financial burden,” Bauer says.
“This is exactly why we need a new approach to healthcare policy in Washington, D.C.,” Dr. Vipond says. “I respect Rep. Sensenbrenner’s service, but it’s time for a physician to fight for cost reduction and quality care for businesses to offer employees and families to care for their loved ones.”
“As a physician, I have practical solutions to reduce healthcare costs,” she adds. “I will work to develop a policy based on price transparency, consumer-driven price reduction, bundling of payments, expanded HSAs and population health systems. With a fresh approach to healthcare delivery and billing my employer has been able to reduce costs for Medicare patients by 28% while at the same time improving the quality of care.
