Hughes campaign: Announces 10 proposals to UNLOCK WISCONSIN for stronger healthcare – lower costs, expanded access, and better quality

Missy Announces Plans To Expand Badgercare, Create A Public Option, Protect Abortion Rights, Defend Wisconsin’s Public Health From RFK, and Fix A Broken Healthcare Status Quo That Puts Profits Over Patients

VIROQUA – Today Missy Hughes, former head of Wisconsin Economic Development, announced the ten first steps she will take to address immediate healthcare challenges in Wisconsin – lowering costs for patients, expanding access in every community, and improving the quality of healthcare for Wisconsinites.

“Across Wisconsin, our broken healthcare system is hurting families and holding Wisconsinites back. It is unacceptable that we see parents spending hours on the phone with their insurance company to get their child’s chemo medication approved, women having to drive hours to deliver their babies in a hospital, or families facing bankruptcy from medical debt,” said Missy. “Together we can set a new vision for Wisconsin, one where care is not only affordable, but readily accessible. Where we invest in the scientific research that could find the cure to cancer or Alzheimer’s. Where we put patients, not profits or politics, first.”

Over the past year Tom Tiffany has poured fuel on the fire of the healthcare crisis in Wisconsin. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” Tiffany championed is expected to cut nearly a billion dollars in Medicaid funding for Wisconsin¹ , and remove coverage for an estimated quarter-million Wisconsinites² . Tiffany’s failure to extend the ACA subsidies has forced premiums through the roof, with hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites seeing their monthly payments increase nearly 20% on average, with many seeing their premiums more than double to over $1,000 a month³. This has all left an estimated 300,000 Wisconsinites without health insurance, and Wisconsinites’ median out of pocket costs approaching $4,000 a year – more than double the national rate⁴. 

Missy continued, “Right now, Wisconsinites are locked into a broken status quo facing skyrocketing premiums, ballooning deductibles, and care that’s increasingly difficult to access – particularly our rural communities where we’ve seen dozens of providers shutter their doors in the past few years. You can’t live the life you want, pursue your dreams, and do what’s best for you or your family if you can’t see a doctor or get the care you need if you’re sick or injured. I’m proud to outline the clear and tangible steps I will take in the first days of my administration to lower costs, increase access, and improve quality – that’s how we’ll UNLOCK WISCONSIN.”

Missy’s Ten Steps to Unlock Healthcare 

1.  Expanding Badgercare & Allowing Wisconsinites to Buy Into the Program

• Expand eligibility thresholds to ensure more low-income individuals and families qualify for Badgercare coverage, closing gaps left by federal Medicaid cuts.
• Restore and protect benefits that have been reduced or eliminated by Washington Republicans, ensuring Wisconsin’s most vulnerable residents retain access to comprehensive, quality care.
• Allow every Wisconsinite who wants to buy into Badgercare to do so. This public option will give everyone the freedom and flexibility to pursue their dreams without worrying about their family being able to access the care they need.

2. Lowering Out-of-Pocket Costs for Prescription Drugs

• Eliminate co-pays for chronic condition prescriptions, including insulin and other life-sustaining medications, so that no Wisconsinite is forced to choose between their health and their financial security.
• Establish a state-level importation program to source safe, affordable prescription drugs from Canada, where drugs are often vastly less expensive than in the United States, just hours from Wisconsin’s borders⁵, to provide immediate cost relief for Wisconsin families facing unsustainable pharmacy bills.

3. Providing High-Quality and Accessible Mental Healthcare

• Increase the availability of mental health and substance use disorder treatment by growing the behavioral health workforce, expanding telehealth services, and ensuring that insurance providers cover mental health services on par with physical health care.
• Work with local school boards and districts to ensure students, as well as teachers and parents, can access mental healthcare throughout the state’s educational system.

4. Protecting Abortion Access, IVF, and Contraceptives in Wisconsin

• Missy will lead the repeal of Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban to ensure that a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions is protected in state law, not subject to the changing composition of the courts.
• Codify the right to abortion, contraceptives, and IVF into Wisconsin’s constitution, pass Shield Laws protecting providers and patients from out-of-state prosecution, and expand access to medication abortion and telehealth reproductive services statewide.

5. Boosting Research Funding for Wisconsin’s Regional Biohealth Tech Hub

• Wisconsin has been a pioneer in game-changing research for decades, which not only saves lives and makes groundbreaking medical advances but also is projected to spur $9 billion in economic activity across the region and create over 30,000 new jobs over the next ten years⁶.
• But attacks on research from the federal government have put this at risk. The designation of the Regional Biohealth Tech Hub, spearheaded by Missy’s leadership, demonstrates Wisconsin’s prowess and leadership in tomorrow’s healthcare breakthroughs. 
• As Governor, Missy will direct state resources to offset federal research funding cuts to Wisconsin’s universities and Tech Hubs, protecting ongoing medical and public health research that supports Wisconsin jobs and drives innovation to improve the quality of healthcare.
• Provide targeted investment in Wisconsin’s growing biohealth sector to attract and retain world-class researchers, develop homegrown medical technology, and position Wisconsin as a national leader in health sciences and life sciences industries.

6. Fighting Back Against the Corporatization of Healthcare

• Restrict private equity firms from acquiring hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare providers, preventing profit-driven consolidation that drives up costs and reduces the quality of care for patients.
• Ban non-compete clauses for physicians and medical professionals, and require the Attorney General to review and approve any mergers, asset transfers, or liability transfers involving healthcare entities operating in Wisconsin.

7. Holding Insurance Companies Accountable

• Missy will appoint a pro-consumer Commissioner of Insurance, and empower them to eliminate unnecessary complexity in insurance products and processes, making it easier for Wisconsinites to understand their coverage, file claims, and navigate the appeals process.
  • Ban insurance companies from using AI to deny care recommended by a patient’s doctor. 
• Block excessive premium rate hikes that make insurance unaffordable for individuals, families and small businesses.
• Establish enforceable penalties for insurance providers that engage in excessive, arbitrary, or bad-faith claim denials.

8. Protecting Wisconsin’s Public Health from RFK and the Trump Administration

• Assume state-level administration of Wisconsin’s ACA exchanges to insulate Wisconsinites from federal dysfunction, and actively recruit federal health experts displaced by the Trump Administration to bolster Wisconsin’s public health infrastructure.
• Protect the integrity of Wisconsin’s vaccine programs by ensuring all recommended vaccines remain available, legally protected, and accessible to every Wisconsinite. 

9. Delivering Wraparound Care for Maternal Health

• Expand access to prenatal, postpartum, and maternal mental health services across Wisconsin, with targeted investments in communities experiencing the highest rates of maternal mortality and obstetric care deserts.

10. Building a Roadmap to End Care Deserts Across Wisconsin

• On day one, make direct investments in rural healthcare infrastructure, including funding for critical access hospitals, rural clinic expansion, and incentive programs to recruit and retain physicians and specialists in underserved communities  Of Wisconsin’s 81 in-patient rural hospitals, 19 are facing service losses, and 12 are at risk of closing, including five imminently⁷.
• Invest in our healthcare workforce by supporting tuition incentives for medical and nursing school, upskilling to create good-paying careers, and ensuring healthcare workers have the benefits they need and deserve.
  • Incentivize and support game-changing innovation that creates new opportunities for rural healthcare to be provided in communities directly by local providers.
• Commission a comprehensive statewide healthcare access assessment to identify and prioritize care deserts across Wisconsin, establishing a clear, funded roadmap to ensure every Wisconsinite, regardless of zip code, has access to high-quality medical care.

“For decades Wisconsin has been at the forefront of increasing access and improving the quality of healthcare. Today we face real problems, and constant attacks. But if we come together around the shared goal of lowering costs, increasing access, and improving quality, we can not just fix healthcare in Wisconsin, but be a leader for the country again,” Missy concluded. 

¹ The Kaiser Family Foundation research has found that the OBBB will cut a billion dollars in Medicaid funding in WI

²  According to the WI Department of Health Services, the OBBB will remove coverage for 270,000 Wisconsinites.

³ This report by Spectrum 1 News highlighted the story of a mother from Western Wisconsin whose premiums doubled to $1,800 a month

⁴ The Maciver Institute found that median out of pocket costs for Wisconsinites was $3,700 per person, almost double the national median of $1,900 a year

⁵ The National Library of Medicine found that prescription drug prices in the United States are 278% higher than other countries

⁶ The U.S. Department of Commerce projected that Wisconsin’s Bio Tech Hub would bring $9 billion in regional GDP growth and directly create over 30,000 jobs

⁷ Rural Hospitals at Risk of Closing, Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, January 2026

About UNLOCK WISCONSIN

In January, Missy unveiled her first three proposals in her UNLOCK WISCONSIN agenda to create 50,000 new businesses, lift up to 100,000 more Wisconsinites each year into highly-skilled, high-paying jobs; and build 200,000 new homes by the end of her first term.

In February, Missy released her fourth proposal to lower the cost of childcare in Wisconsin, including capping out-of-pocket costs for families at 7% of their income, while providing direct investment to childcare providers to ensure educators have the pay and benefits they need to make childcare a family-supporting career.