For Immediate Release
October 11, 2018
Contact: Alex Japko, alexj@wisdems.org
Premiums Still Up Overall, Walker’s Reduction is Less Than a Third of Minnesota’s
Today, Scott Walker made his latest health care announcement in another desperate attempt to distract from his abysmal record as governor. Walker’s announcement doesn’t even come close to telling the entire story. The governor is trying to claim credit for lowering health care costs but in reality, his policies are directly responsible for the huge increases.
Here are the facts:
Walker’s GOP Destabilized the Market Causing Rates to Spike 36% in Wisconsin.Walker’s Republican Party is directly responsible for destabilizing the health care marketplace. Walker was supportive of the GOP tax bill and he stood by and did nothing while DC Republicans halted critical cost-sharing reduction payments that kept coverage affordable for millions of Americans. After Wisconsin told insurers to factor in the end of CSRs, rates spiked 36% in just one year.
Minnesota’s Reduction in Costs Was Larger Than Wisconsin’s.Walker likes to claim he enacted reforms just like Minnesota. Yet, when Minnesota put their plan in place, residents saw a 15% reduction in costs – far larger than what Walker delivered.
Premiums Are Still Up.Walker’s small reduction of 4% is a drop in the bucket compared to the increases Wisconsinites have seen over the last two years of Republican sabotage. The fact is, in the last two years overall, premiums have still risen by huge percentages. Less than one month out, Walker may try all the tricks in the book to mislead Wisconsinites on health care costs, but he can’t run away from the record of sabotaging of Wisconsin insurance markets and spiking premiums.
And on top of all this, Walker is STILL suing to undermine protections for the 2.4 million Wisconsinites with pre-existing conditions. With actions like that, Wisconsinites shouldn’t trust anything Walker tells them about protecting their health care.
“Scott Walker’s GOP set Wisconsin’s insurance markets on fire, and now he’s trying to claim credit for putting it out,” said DPW spokesperson Alex Japko. “The fact is, health care premiums are still going up and Scott Walker and his Republican allies are directly responsible. For eight years, Scott Walker has been a failure on ensuring Wisconsinites get affordable health care, and voters won’t be fooled by this election year gambit.”
