From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Wisconsin has been ranked 21st among U.S. states for various measures of health by the United Health Foundation.
The group’s latest state health rankings place Wisconsin relatively high for clinical care and social and economic factors — 12th and 15th, respectively — but its health outcomes score was much lower, ranking 38th in the country.
For the other two categories, health behaviors and the physical environment, Wisconsin was ranked 22nd.
Report authors point to several strengths for the state, including relatively low prevalence of non-medical drug use, and high rates of high school completion and cancer screening.
They also highlight an increase in colon cancer screening in the state, which has risen from 65% of adults aged 45-75 to 74.8% between 2022 and 2024.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s top health challenges include widespread excessive drinking as well as high rates of obesity and “frequent mental distress,” the report shows.
It also spotlights rising e-cigarette use, which grew from 6.6% of adults to 8.3% between 2023 and 2024. Wisconsin’s rate of e-cigarette use has largely followed the national trend, rising steadily since at least 2017.
See the data for Wisconsin here.
— An Assembly committee voted along party lines to advance a bill to exempt certain medical procedures, such as removing a dead embryo or fetus or treating an ectopic pregnancy, from the definition of abortion.
The Health, Aging and Long-Term Care Committee yesterday voted 10-3 on AB 546, which includes a requirement that the physician make reasonable efforts to save the parent and fetus from harm when performing an exempted procedure.
The Senate signed off 18-15 along party lines on its version of the bill in November. Gov. Tony Evers has vowed to veto it.
Ahead of the vote, Rep. Renuka Mayadev, D-Madison, criticized Republicans for starting the new year by taking up a bill “targeting our physicians and having them perform unnecessary c-sections.”
She asked the committee to take up bipartisan legislation that would require insurance companies to cover additional breast cancer screenings for women with dense breast tissue.
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