Walker wants Government Run State Self-Insurance?

Democrats are sleeping, again.

No big surprise, but when Scott Walker offers up a statewide single payer system and the Democratic Party doesn't stand up and point that out...well, what are we waiting for?

Think about it, this could make universal health care an acceptable idea to Republican voters. We'll just have to highlight what the Walker Authority is saying. The article below about Walker's statewide self-insurance budget proposal, offered up ready made talking points:

1. “What the board is doing is controlling more of what it can control, rather than ceding that authority to folks with whom we contract.”

2. The move should save $60 million over the next two years and retain access to 98 percent of medical providers,

3. Consultants hired by the state have said self-insurance could ... save $42 million a year, largely by avoiding $18 million in Affordable Care Act fees, cutting $11 million in administrative costs and eliminating $11 million in insurance company profits.

There are those who say it might cost $100 million more, instead of saving taxpayer money. Just more of that doom and gloom GOP rhetoric? Bottom line, this would be a government run system, regardless of how mismanaged or poorly constructed Walker's proposal might be. And private insurers will still be managing the policy for the state.

Democrats should push: Self-insurance = Single Payer savings. 

And it doesn't matter how reckless Walker's proposal is right now knowing health care in this country is about to get shredded nationally by Trump and Paul Ryan. 

It's time to take advantage of the estimated savings Walker is touting with government run health care. 

Which brings me to one final point; health care doesn't have to be this convoluted and difficult to understand. It should tell you something when people carry signs that read "keep government out of my Medicare." As simple as Medicare is, people still don't get it.

I still haven't been able to find the exact number of self-insured states claimed by Walker, according to this tweet:

"Moving the state to a self-insured plan--like 46 other states--will save the state 60 million, says @GovWalker #WIBUDGET"

Hell Froze Over? Walker wants Government run Health Care...to Save Money! He's just calling it "Self Insurance."

Many big companies already self insure themselves; the employer takes on the risks and pays the medical bills. When government does it, it's a called a single payer system. ObamaCare is not a government run system, but a marketplace offering private insurers.

Scott Walker wants the government to become the insurer for public employees. No, really. He's the same guy who wants to get government out of health care, which it isn't. Even worse, it's the opposite of the free market plan pushed by Republicans, who've voted 50+ times to repeal ObamaCare. Even a few state Republican appear shocked by Walker's move away from their free market "competitive" ideal. Check out State Sen. Ablerta Darlings reaction in the clip below.

Walker doesn't get it of course, and doesn't understand the difference, so now he's proving just how clueless he really is by pushing a government run plan that he says will...are you ready for this, save money:

Walker: "One area to consider for real reform is the way we administer health insurance for state employees, which some experts believe could save tens of millions of dollars," Gov. Walker announced in his State of the State address to the legislature Tuesday night.

WKOW: 



The report Walker is basing his plan on did not appear to estimate the cost of putting the system together initially as far as I could see, but the GOP tax cutting shortfall is now a problem...

To start a self insurance plan the state would have to triple it's cash reserves, according to a report commissioned by the Wisconsin Group Insurance Board last year ... By our estimation, there is approximately $267 million in unnecessary and avoidable medical services annually in Employee Trust Fund’s program.

And Minnesota? Public employees are already self insured. If you read the report, it presents the best case for a single payer system.

Wow, who would have guessed both Scott Walker and Bernie Sanders are both talking up a single payer health care system.

Sanders' plan costs a lot to start and maintain year after year, but it's a little over a third of what we're paying now, but it covers everything, from dental, long term care, to increases in Social Security benefits. We'll pay more in taxes each year, but we'll save so much more all along the way:

A typical middle-class family would save about $5,000 a year, according to a rough analysis commissioned by Sanders' presidential campaign, while society as a whole would end up saving something like $6 trillion over the next decade. The United States currently spends $3 trillion on health care each year. This plan has been estimated to cost $1.38 trillion per year. 

In December, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll found nearly 58 percent of all people in the U.S. favor the idea of Medicare-for-all, including 34 percent who say they strongly favor it. The poll also found that 81 percent of Democrats support this single-payer program. 

Note: the graph below compares the low premiums in the ObamaCare Marketplace to the current Employee Trust Fund (ETF in red) insurance program. Ready for the truth about the lower Marketplace premiums?