In the coming days, the families and friends of the 32 innocent victims of the horrific Virginia Tech shooting spree will gather to lay their loved ones to rest. Please join with me in keeping these families in your thoughts and prayers.

Patients First Health Care Reform Agenda

On Wednesday, Assembly Republicans held a press conference at the State Capitol to announce our “Patients First” healthcare reform agenda. The guiding principle behind our agenda is putting families and individuals, not bureaucrats and politicians, in charge of their health care dollars and decisions. To put this principle into practice will require fundamental reform, particularly in the areas of affordability, transparency, technology, and workplace wellness.

While there are a myriad of factors that contribute to the rising cost of health care, the consequence is all the same to the average Wisconsin family. With each passing year, they are forced to spend more of their hard-earned money on health care. To make health care more affordable, our agenda includes making health insurance premiums tax deductible. When fully implemented, this will save Wisconsin families $147 million a year. Beyond that, we want to end the state’s tax on Health Savings Accounts. Right now, Wisconsin is one of only four states that still tax contributions to Health Savings Accounts.

Throughout our economy, consumers make informed decisions about the goods and services they buy. In most cases, they opt for the best product at the best price. Unfortunately, this free market principle does not exist in the health care marketplace. I doubt most Wisconsin consumers actually know the actual cost of a doctor visit, an annual check-up or a simple in-patient day surgery. Furthermore, there is little information available to consumers about which caregivers are considered to the best in their respective field, and they probably don’t know the range of services available at local hospital and clinics.

When it comes to health care, we cannot continue to keep consumers in the dark when it comes to the actual costs of their care and the quality of the care provided to them. Assembly Republicans have been on the forefront in this area. Two years ago, we encouraged the expansion of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality. This innovative program provides real-time information about the actual costs and quality of health care providers across the state. Assembly Republicans laid the ground work for the ongoing development of Pricepoint and Checkpoint, innovative websites giving families information on hospital cost and quality. This session, Assembly Republicans will continue to push the use of technology by offering incentives to health care providers to switch to electric medical records and through the development of the Wisconsin Physician Data Warehouse. This one-stop shop compiles information about doctors practicing in the state.

An important key to lowering the cost of health care is encouraging healthier lifestyles. Local governments and companies across Wisconsin are creating effective wellness programs that provide incentives for employees to modify unhealthy behaviors, control chronic diseases and catch health problems before they become catastrophic. Our agenda provides tax incentives to Wisconsin businesses to provide more employees with workplace wellness programs.

In the coming weeks, we will be moving these proposals through the state Assembly. I fully expect there to be considerable debate and discussion. Our Patients First doesn’t have support among the Madison crowd that would prefer to expand the role of government in health care. I welcome that debate. Reforming health care is not about turning over your families’ health care needs to a bunch of politicians and bureaucrats with offices overlooking the State Capitol. It’s about your family having the choice to see the doctor you want, when you want at a cost you can afford.

Tax Day and Tax Freedom Day

Every year, American taxpayers circle the day on their annual calendar to remind them when their federal and state tax returns are due. In most years, that date is April 15. This year it was April 17. But that’s not the only date that taxpayers should circle on their calendar. I held a press conference on Tuesday to put the spotlight on Tax Freedom Day.
Tax Freedom Day is the day when taxpayers finally earn enough money in the year to pay off their federal, state and local taxes. Not surprisingly, every year taxpayers have to work longer to pay off their taxes. Only four years ago, Wisconsin’s tax freedom day fell on April 20th. This year, Tax Freedom Day for Wisconsin taxpayers is May 2. That in and of itself is a sobering statistic, but it gets worse. Taxpayers in 37 states will pay off their tax bill before Wisconsin taxpayers and Governor Doyle, with the help of the Democrats, wants to push Tax Freedom Day back even further with $3 billion in new taxes.
Paying off Uncle Sam’s bill is outside our control, but I guarantee you, Assembly Republicans will be working to help reduce Uncle Jim’s (Doyle) tax bill of $534 for every man, woman and child in Wisconsin. Our Taxpayer Protection Plan starts with a commitment to adopt a no-tax-increase state budget. Beyond that, our taxpayer protection plan includes:
? A Real Property Tax Freeze: Assembly Republicans will put a Property Tax Freeze with real teeth in place to protect property owners and seniors;
? Across the Board Income Tax Cut: Reduce the tax rate on all Wisconsin taxpayers. Passage of this bill will cut taxes by over $177 million in the 2008 and 2009 tax years;
? Health Insurance Premium Tax Deductibility: By removing the state tax on health insurance premiums we make health care more affordable and more accessible. This tax and health care reform will save $149 million per year when fully implemented;
? Elimination of Estate Tax: This bill moves the effective date for the elimination from January 1, 2008 to January 1 2007. This would save taxpayers $100 million in 2008; and
? Elimination of State Tax on Retirement Income: This bill creates a graduated scale of income over the next five years for a Pension Income Tax Credit. These credits would save over $840 million for seniors in the next five years.