Wisconsin health insurance

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status report:
Wisconsin state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated Wisconsin state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Wisconsin officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (5)

• Sean Duffy
• Thomas Petri
• Reid Ribble

• Paul Ryan
• F. Sensenbrenner

Our
Pick

No (3)

• Tammy Baldwin
• Ronald Kind
• Gwen Moore

how healthy is living in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin has dropped seven spots since 2009 and is now ranked as the 18th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• Wisconsin's strengths include high rates in both high school graduations—88.5 percent of ninth graders graduating in their expected four years of high school—and immunization coverage – with 93.5 percent of children from 19 to 35 months old receiving their recommended immunizations.
• The state also shows low rates of occupational fatalities and infectious disease, as well as a low percentage of the population that is uninsured (9.6 percent).
• Wisconsin has shown a decline in smoking as well as deaths due to cardiovascular disease in the past ten years.
• Smoking has decreased from 23.7 percent to 18.7 of the population, and deaths due to cardiovascular disease are shown as 258.3 deaths per 100,000 of the population, down from 1990's 389.2 per 100,000.

The bad news:

• Wisconsin has a particularly high rate of binge drinking, the highest in the nation.
• For 2010, the prevalence of binge drinking is listed at 23.2 percent of the population.
• The state also has a low level of public health care funding, with only $40 per individual.
• Obesity increased over the past year from 26 to 29.2 percent of the population.

Wisconsin's best and worst category rankings:

• High school graduation – 2nd
• Lack of health insurance – 4th
• Immunization coverage – 4th
• Prevalence of obesity – 34th
• Public health funding – 48th
• Prevalence of binge drinking – 50th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Wisconsin.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Wisconsin health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Wisconsin here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Wisconsin, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

does Wisconsin have a health insurance high risk pool?

Wisconsin Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan
Toll-free 1-800-828-4777

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Wisconsin started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Wisconsin's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

how to find health insurance in Wisconsin

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Wisconsin and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in Wisconsin.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's Wisconsin health insurance guide

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Wisconsin.

Health insurance plan report cards for Wisconsin

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for Wisconsin health insurance plan report cards.

Wisconsin government health insurance resources

BadgerCare PLUS – a Wisconsin program to provide health care coverage for uninsured families.

Wisconsin Medicaid – information on the federal/state program to provide health coverage for those without the means to pay for it.

Advocacy

The Coalition for Wisconsin Health – is a collaborative effort of 60 religious, social concern, human rights, health care and labor organizations, working to reform health care in the United States.

Wisconsin Healthcare For All – an approach to provide health care for all citizens without a single-payer system.