By Greg Bump
WisBusiness.com
MADISON — Gov. Jim Doyle today told the Wisconsin Hospital Association that in spite of budget difficulties the state must continue to focus on priorities, including education and expanding affordable health care to all.
Doyle lauded the efforts of the WHA in helping get more state residents covered with health insurance and noted despite a $6 billion budget deficit that forced tough cuts across the board, his proposal moves forward with expanding BadgerCare Plus to include childless adults.
“We have worked too hard to get to the point we are at … I believe we can’t stop the momentum we have built here,” Doyle told the WHA’s advocacy day luncheon at the Monona Terrace convention center. “We are not going to stop and we are not going to go in the other direction.”
Doyle said the health care industry is a key component of Wisconsin’s economy and doesn’t understand when he hears complaints that too much of the U.S. gross national product is spent on health care.
“What would you rather spend our GNP on?” Doyle asked.
The health care industry in Wisconsin “is a sector of our economy that fits us very well — the kind of state we have, the kind of education system we have and the kind of values we have,” Doyle said.
Though he was generally warmly received by the crowd, Doyle got only a smattering of applause when he tried to make a political point between the Obama and Bush administration’s posture on health care reform.
“Thank God we had an election because I don’t know what we would be doing today,” Doyle said.
He said the new administration is “intent” on getting “major health care legislation” before the end of the year. Doyle said the state’s SeniorCare and BadgerCare Plus programs should be models for the national reforms and urged the health care officials to be vocal about the legislation to “make sure we don’t lose ground.”
Also on the health care front today, Doyle’s office announced that the Department of Health Services is getting a $1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to increase enrollment and retention of eligible children in BadgerCare Plus.
