White House asks for ideas on health care and Alma state senator taking initiative

Vinehout recently introduced bill for Wisconsin’s own health care marketplace. 

It just might be the right time for some sweeping health care changes in Wisconsin.

Maybe even a public health insurance option on the state’s health care exchange.

That’s been suggested by Democratic state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout.

“One of the nice things about the time that we’re living in is both Democrats and Republicans are looking for options,” Vinehout told WIZM, “and the Trump administration is saying to states, ‘Be the innovators. Come up with ideas.'”

Vinehout has talked about modeling the public option after the state’s Medicaid Badgercare program.

“For somebody like me that’s been thinking about health care policy for a long time,” she said, “I think it’s a great opportunity for the state to be innovative.”

The public option especially makes sense, says Vinehout, with insurance companies pulling out of the state’s health insurance exchange over uncertainties about federal subsidies.

Vinehout recently introduced a bill to create Wisconsin’s own health care marketplace.

“Access to affordable, high-quality health care is a duty of our society to everyone,” Vinehout said on Facebook. “Health care for all is a moral responsibility of our people to each other.
“Finding the best way to pay for and deliver the care should be the topic of discussion.”