MADISON, WI—Today, Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez announced a sweeping health care proposal to lower prices and guarantee affordable, reliable coverage for every person in Wisconsin. Rodriguez is making health care a central pillar of her campaign for governor and her broader plan to make life less expensive for Wisconsinites.
“Health care is too expensive, too unpredictable, and too out of reach for people who are already feeling squeezed,” said Lt. Gov. Rodriguez. “As a nurse, I saw people delay care because they were worried about the bill. As a working mom and caregiver for my father with Alzheimer’s, I lived the stress of premiums, deductibles, and surprise costs. And as governor, I will lead with a simple commitment: health care in Wisconsin should be affordable, dependable, and protected.”
Rodriguez’s plan responds to rising premiums, expiring federal tax credits, hospital closures, mental health gaps, and ongoing threats to reproductive care, all pressures that are forcing people to make impossible choices between health care and other basic needs. Health care leaders across Wisconsin have already praised Rodriguez’s plan:
“I’ve spent my career focused on improving the health and wellbeing of Wisconsinites, and I’m proud to stand with Lt. Governor Rodriguez as she introduces her platform. The disastrous decisions of Republicans in D.C. won’t be felt all at once, but when they hit, they will hit hard – especially for rural communities and our most vulnerable neighbors,” said Regina Vidaver, Madison Common Council President. “Sara Rodriguez understands what’s at stake and will fight to make sure everyone in Wisconsin can access quality, affordable care in their own community.”
“In 37 years of practicing medicine in Wisconsin, I’ve seen how critical access to affordable care is for the health of individuals and our communities. When people have coverage they can count on, they are able to prevent disease, manage chronic illness, and avoid far more serious and expensive care down the road,” said Sophie Kramer, M.D. “Sara Rodriguez’s plan recognizes that reality. This is a thoughtful and practical plan that puts patients and communities first.”
“Health care is a human right. As an Autistic adult, I know firsthand how hard it can be to access care in a system that too often misunderstands or overlooks people with disabilities. I’m not someone who needs to be ‘cured’ – I need consistent, respectful, affordable care,” said Nicki Vander Meulen, an Attorney, disability rights advocate, and Madison Metropolitan School Board Member. “Sara Rodriguez’s plan to protect and expand BadgerCare and guarantee stable coverage would make a real difference for people like me across Wisconsin.”
“Sara Rodriguez understands this system because she’s worked in it. While Republicans keep trying to rip coverage away and hike costs, Sara is putting forward a bold plan to lower prices and expand access through BadgerChoice. This is the kind of leadership Wisconsin actually needs right now,” said State Representative Ben DeSmidt (District 65).
“People shouldn’t live one election or one court ruling away from losing their care,” Rodriguez continued. “Wisconsin can take responsibility for our own future and build a health care system that works, and that’s exactly what this plan does.”
Lower Health Care Prices
As governor, Sara Rodriguez will lower prices and guarantee affordable, reliable health care for every person in Wisconsin.
Health care in Wisconsin has become harder to afford and harder to count on. People are being squeezed by rising premiums, sky-high deductibles, and unexpected bills – all while worrying that their coverage could change or disappear without warning. Every dollar swallowed by health care is a dollar that can’t go toward everyday needs, and too often people are forced to put off doctor visits, ration medications, or hope a problem doesn’t get worse because they simply can’t afford to deal with it right now.
At the same time, Wisconsinites are caught in the middle of political dysfunction. Decisions made in Washington, DC and stalemates in Madison have left care more expensive, less accessible, and increasingly uncertain – from expiring ACA tax credits to hospital closures, gaps in mental health care, and ongoing threats to reproductive freedom. People deserve better than a system that shifts with elections and court cases. Wisconsin can build a health care system that is affordable, dependable, and protected – and as governor, Sara Rodriguez will lead that work.
Sara’s Plan to Make Health Care Easier and Less Expensive
- Launch BadgerChoice: A Wisconsin Public Health Insurance Option
- Sara will launch BadgerChoice, a Wisconsin-governed public option offering affordable and reliable coverage.
- This allows anyone priced out of private insurance – farmers, small business owners, early retirees, young adults – to buy in.
- Use Wisconsin’s bargaining power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs, hospital care, and mental health services.
- Allow people to keep their current plan but expand choice.
- Pass a Wisconsin Health Care Bill of Rights
- Sara will enshrine core health protections into Wisconsin law so they can’t be rolled back by Congress or the courts.
- Permanently protect people with pre-existing conditions from being denied coverage, charged more, or kicked off their plan.
- Ban lifetime and annual coverage limits so no family is cut off from care when they need it most.
- End surprise medical billing and strengthen hospital financial assistance requirements.
- Protect and Expand BadgerCare
- Defend and strengthen BadgerCare so more Wisconsinites can access affordable coverage.
- Ensure people aren’t pushed off coverage because of political gridlock or shifting federal priorities.
- Guarantee Mental Health Care as Equal to Physical Health Care
- Sara will enforce true mental health parity so insurance covers mental health and addiction care the same way it covers physical care.
- Expand access to crisis intervention, adolescent mental health services, and substance-use treatment.
- Give the state real authority to hold insurers accountable when they deny or delay mental health care.
- Protect Reproductive Freedom
- Sara will codify Roe vs. Wade into Wisconsin law and protect access to abortion, miscarriage care, ectopic pregnancy care, and fertility treatments.
- Guarantee 12 Months of Postpartum Coverage
- Sara will end Wisconsin’s dangerous 60-day postpartum cutoff, guaranteeing a full year or Medicaid coverage after birth.
- This addresses postpartum depression, heart complications, and maternal mortality, all conditions that often appear months after delivery.
- Protect Rural Hospitals and Emergency Care
- Sara will work with the legislature to establish a Rural Health Stabilization Fund to keep ERs, maternity wards, and behavioral health services open.
- This expands telehealth and mobile crisis services so people aren’t driving hours for care and ensures fair reimbursement so hospitals can keep their doors open.
About Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez:
Sara Rodriguez is a nurse, a working mom, and Wisconsin’s current lieutenant governor. Before she ever ran for office, she worked ER night shifts, served as a CDC intelligence officer responding to public health crises, led one of the largest health care systems in the Midwest, and owned a small business, all while raising two kids and caring for her father as he lived with Alzheimer’s.
Sara first ran for office because she was tired of seeing people who work hard still getting squeezed. In 2020, she flipped a Republican-held Assembly seat in Waukesha County. Two years later, she was elected lieutenant governor, and since then has traveled to all 72 counties – three times – listening to families, workers, and small business owners talk about what’s making life harder and what they want government to fix.
Sara grew up in a working-class Wisconsin family. Her mom was a union teaching assistant, her dad served during Vietnam and worked fixing phones, and her grandparents were dairy farmers. She was born in Milwaukee, raised in Brookfield, and now lives in Waukesha County with her husband, a first-generation immigrant from Mexico, and their two kids.
Sara’s campaign has shown early strength, raising more than $650,000 directly since launching, with more than $4.5 million more raised for allied Democratic efforts and supporting organizations. That support has allowed her to build a serious, statewide operation early and reflects both grassroots enthusiasm and broader confidence in her ability to compete and win. Learn more at www.saraforwi.com.
