First elected to the state Assembly in 2012, Representative Dan Riemer (D-Milwaukee) is serving his fifth term representing the 7^th Assembly District, which includes portions of the cities of Milwaukee and West Allis, as well as the Village of West Milwaukee.

Rep. Riemer holds a law degree from UW-Madison and is a full-time lawmaker. He currently serves on the Assembly Health Committee, and during his time in the Legislature has worked on numerous health care-related proposals.

Rep. Riemer took a few minutes to talk with us about a handful of topical health care issues facing Wisconsin and what health care policy priorities he believes should be pursued during the 2021-22 legislative session:

Question 1

As a long-time member of the Assembly Health Committee and a legislator who has worked on numerous health care-related polices during your time in the Legislature, what do you believe are the largest health care-related challenges facing the state? In addition, what policy solutions do you believe are needed to address those challenges? Lastly, what key health care policy proposals is the Assembly Democratic Caucus focusing on for the 2021-22 legislative session?

Answer: The single biggest health care challenge facing Wisconsin is the failure to expand Medicaid. This would increase the number of Wisconsinites with health insurance, and lower health care costs for newly Medicaid-covered individuals between 100%-133% of the Federal Poverty Line. Medicaid provides better benefits than Affordable Care Act plans or other plans and provides Wisconsin’s government with over one billion additional dollars, some of which could be devoted to other health care priorities.

As I have done for many years through legislation, Governor Evers has also repeatedly proposed Medicaid expansion. The Assembly Democratic Caucus has again made this a priority, as have Democrats in the State Senate. The time has come for the Republican majority in the Wisconsin Legislature to agree. That’s the simple solution to our biggest health care challenge.

Question 2

The cost of healthcare continues to rise, for both individuals and employers. In fact, a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Purchaser Business Group on Health found that 85 percent of large employers believe the government must take a bigger role in managing healthcare costs and coverage. Another survey found that 55 percent of small business owners say the cost of providing health insurance to their employees is the biggest challenge they face. What types of policies or future legislation do you believe are necessary to help drive down the overall costs of health care?

Answer: In addition to Medicaid expansion, which will reduce what Wisconsin’s taxpayers and government must pay for health care for a large sector of our population (a form of lowering costs), I strongly support other measures to lower the overall cost of healthcare in Wisconsin.  One step that I support would be to require that the Wisconsin State Employee Health Plan (WSEHP) be used as the vehicle by which all government employees obtained health insurance. 

A careful analysis of WSEHP by University of Wisconsin-Madison La Follette Professor of Economics John Mullahy and others compared the WSEHP’s experience in Dane County vs. Wisconsin’s other 71 counties. The study showed that  when a very large percentage of the employees in a county are offered a choice among competing health care plans, they have incentives to enroll in the lower-cost plans, because while higher-cost plans are always available, they must pay a modest additional premium to enroll in higher-cost plans. Given the choices, health care premiums and costs are held down.

If WSEHP served as the vehicle for enabling all government employees to obtain health insurance in the same way, it should be possible to replicate much of WSEHP’s unique success in Dane County in constraining health care premiums and costs.  One of the benefits of this is that, as the Dane County story suggests, it is not only the WSEHP and those it helps obtain health insurance for who experience reduced costs.  The model’s incentives put pressure on the competing plans to become more cost effective in general, which helps private employers as well.

Question 3

Skilled home health care offers a wide range of health care services, which are provided by skilled non-physician practitioners, such as nurses in a patient’s home. Not only does skilled home health offer patients with greater convenience, increased quality of life, and better outcomes, it is also typically less expensive than care delivered in a hospital or other facility. Unfortunately, despite the many benefits of home health care, the Wisconsin Medicaid reimbursement rate for home-based skilled nursing has not been increased in over a decade. With that in mind, would you support increasing the Medicaid reimbursement rate for home health skilled nursing services by 10 percent?

Answer:  I certainly would be concerned if the current Medicaid reimbursement rate for home health skilled nursing services is resulting in a reduction in the number of providers or the quality of care.

This is not an issue, however, that I know much about. I would welcome the opportunity to learn more.

The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the individual that was interviewed and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the organization.