Madison, WI– Today, Wisconsin Senate President Mary Felzkowski voted “no” on the 2025-27 Wisconsin Biennial Budget.
This budget is balanced on the back of the federal government that is $36 trillion in debt, using a little-known gimmick: the Hospital Assessment and Access Payments provision. Governor Doyle was the first to use this provision in Wisconsin to help balance the budget due to the financial stress of the Great Recession. Now, the federal government has realized that this gimmick is unsustainable and is cracking down on states abusing this program. This is why Governor Evers and Republican Legislative Leaders are rushing to complete the state budget before President Trump signs his “One Big Beautiful Bill” into law.
The provision works like this: hospitals pay in just over $419 million per year (per statutes), and these funds are then used to leverage additional federal dollars. Those additional dollars go back to the hospitals. Hospitals receive $679.9 million (netting $260.5 million), and the state receives $150.4 million.
To help cover the $12 billion spending increase in this budget, Republican Legislative Leaders and Governor Evers are maxing out this gimmick. The budget increases the amount hospitals pay in to $1.5 billion per year, meaning they get almost $2.7 billion back (netting over $1.1 billion annually). Additionally, the state receives $448 million. Where does the $1.5 billion hospitals pay in come from? The cost is passed on to patients.
The federal government has realized it can no longer afford this scheme, which is why the “One Big Beautiful Bill” is changing it. Taxpayers, patients, and employers receive nothing in exchange for a multi-billion-dollar package to hospitals.
Healthcare affordability is the number one concern for Wisconsin businesses, and Wisconsin has the fifth highest hospital costs in the country. This budget rewards hospitals with almost a billion dollars of new revenue every year and taxpayers do not get a single substantive healthcare reform in return.
Senate President Felzkowski issued the following statement:
Healthcare costs are the largest financial concern for most Wisconsin families and businesses. Instead of addressing these costs, Governor Evers sold out to hospital lobbyists and willingly turned down a golden opportunity to enact bipartisan healthcare reforms that would have lowered costs for our constituents.
