Alma Sen. Vinehout proposes Badger Care for all with state health exchange

Vinehout proposes system where coverage isn’t tied to employment. 

While the health care debate rages in Washington, a Wisconsin state senator says she likes the idea of a home-baked plan. 

Alma Democratic Senator Kathleen Vinehout says she likes the idea of having Badger Care for all, posing the question, “What if everyone had affordable health care?”

 Vinehout’s pushing the idea of a state health care exchange that would increase health care options in Wisconsin. She calls the idea a starting point but would also require the feds to allow a public option on the state’s healthcare marketplace.

In that system, “payers would pay bills, providers would be paid and people would no longer pay any insurance premiums,” Vinehout said.

She added that health care doesn’t have to be so complicated. Vinehout proposes a system where coverage isn’t tied to employment, and that it would “minimize the everyday hassles of health insurance.”

Vinehout, a likely candidate in the race to challenge Gov. Scott Walker in 2018, signed on to a bill that would create the state’s own health insurance marketplace.