The Wisconsin GOP's Pretzel Logic Health Care Maze!

Isn't anyone else as freaked out as I am over the massive regulatory mess being created by Soctt Walker and his band of plundering Republican pirates? I had no idea "small" government could get this big.

Republicans Solve Another of their Problems? Republicans finally cut taxes for those poor disadvantaged U.S. corporations so they could compete in the global economy, but forgot to do away with that other big drag on U.S. business, health care.

The contortions Republicans have gone through to make health care as expensive as hell treating the sick and the dying may be ghoulish and ethically reprehensible, but it's a winner for their base. Here's the latest Rube Golberg contraption Republicans think business has all the time and money in the world to create:

A bill scheduled to be taken up by the state Assembly this week would allow small businesses to band together to offer a new type of insurance plan to employees … businesses could pool their money to "self-fund" employee health benefits.

Well, that doesn't sound time consuming and costly.

While a national health care plan would free up business to what they do best...you know, business, Republicans just can't go there. Instead, why not make small businesses form groups, keep records, may payments, disperse care...?

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls, said the costs of health care are a major concern for small businesses across the state. "These little guys in Wisconsin, they're fantastic businesses, they simply don't have the economies of scale to purchase cost effectively," he said.

Oops, Zimmerman forgot complying with State Law for Required Services: Hey, it was just a first draft, right?

But, as the proposal is currently written, these "employer groups" would not have to comply with state laws for health insurance, which include requirements for coverage of certain procedures and treatments. Rep. Debra Kolste, D-Janesville, says consumers depend on those insurance laws to ensure they're covered for the things they need. "The essential benefits of health care would be gone. Colorectal cancer screening gone, copayment equality for chemotherapy that we worked on hard a couple sessions ago, gone."

Rep. Zimmerman says he is open to changing the proposal to include those coverage requirements.