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Candidates
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Green wants wellness for Wisconsin
Public and private wellness programs are just one part of the health care program Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Green announced Monday.
The Green plan also focuses on providing more information to individuals on health care costs and options; tax credits for health savings account; reducing red tape and reforming the Wisconsin's medical assistance programs.
"My plan will empower patients with more information and more options so they can work with their health care provider to make quality decisions," Green said.
He added that his plan allows families and individuals to make health care choices rather than the government.
The first part of Green's plan is to make health savings accounts tax deductible as they are on the federal level and make the HAS's available to state employees.
He would also require that all health care providers in the state publish their real prices and provide estimates for various procedures.
Wellness programs are a key element of cutting health care costs under Green's plan.
First, Green says he would issue an executive order requiring all state agencies to develop wellness programs in order to improve the health state employs.
He also provide tax credits to employers in the state that offer wellness programs and provide performance pay for health care providers that increase positive outcomes in disease management.
The Wisconsin Encourages Healthy Lifestyles Council would be re-energized under Green's plan. This council created under Gov. Tommy Thompson.
Green would use the council to promote healthier lifestyles for state employees and to help communities promote wellness.
He would then develop a "Healthy Lifestyle Community" designation for communities that put together comprehensive efforts to promote health and wellness programs for all levels of the community.
Green also says that he would continue the state's SeniorCare prescription program.
His plan also calls for incentives for seniors to buy private long-term care. However, once their insurance is exhausted Green says seniors could continue their long-term care without spending all of their assets as is currently required.
To help pay for the long-term care, Green says he would implement a long-term care tax credit. The credit would start at 10 percent in 2007 and then would go all the way up to 50 percent.
"By providing incentives for long-term care insurance, we'll save taxpayers' dollars down the road as less folks will have to rely on the government to meet their health care needs," Green said.
Another program to help manage Medicaid costs under the Green proposal would be health opportunity accounts.
These accounts Medicaid recipients would receive a set amount of money to be use for both acute and primary health care needs. Recipients would be allowed to choose their provider.
If recipients used more than they were given they would then have to enter a network program. Unused funds could be carried over to the next year. And once a recipient leaves Medicaid, 25 percent of the balance is returned to the state while the rest can be used to purchase health insurance coverage.
Green also says he will remove barriers to telemedicine and says he would remove separate state accreditation for health care providers who are already accredited by a national accreditation authority if their requirements are more stringent than Wisconsin's.
Other elements of Green's proposal include legislation that lowers the cap on "non-economic damages" to $450,000 for people over age 18 and $550,000 for those under the age of 18.
He also wants to prohibit statements or conduct from health care providers that express condolence or sympathy from being admissible in a lawsuit.
Finally, he wants to allow a jury to consider collateral payments when determining the amount to be awarded in a malpractice case. |
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