From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Gov. Tony Evers is urging lawmakers to support health-related elements of his legislative agenda, arguing his “Rx for Less” plan would lead to lower drug costs for Wisconsinites.
The guv’s office today issued a release rallying support for the plan, which includes a number of proposals including exempting over-the-counter medications and other “basic family needs” such as diapers and menstrual products from sales tax.
Other proposals in the plan would: establish a state Office of Prescription Drug Affordability as well as a Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board; set a $35 maximum co-pay cap for one month’s supply of insulin; create a “value-based” diabetes medication pilot program; license and regulate companies in the prescription drug supply chain such as pharmacy benefit management brokers; and more.
The release also calls on lawmakers to support various proposals related to health insurance, including establishing a process for auditing insurers when their claims denial rates are too high and creating a new consumer protection office focused on insurance denials.
Evers slammed Republicans in a statement for having “gutted Medicaid to pay for tax cuts” for the wealthy and not extending Affordable Care Act tax credits, calling it “wrongheaded.”
“I hear from Wisconsinites all the time that they don’t feel like they are getting a fair shake when it comes to their healthcare coverage, and we’ve got to change that,” he said.
See the full list of Evers’ proposals in the release below.
— The state Department of Health Services would have to comply with the Trump administration’s request for Wisconsin’s food stamp rolls, under legislation before an Assembly committee today.
AB 1027 would require DHS to turn over all the data sought by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a July 23 letter. The feds want a list of individuals who have received or have applied to the federal program since Jan. 1, 2020.
The agency is seeking names, dates of birth, home addresses, Social Security numbers and benefit amounts in what it says is an effort to target fraud, waste and abuse.
Dem Gov. Tony Evers has rebuffed the request while expressing confidence in the integrity of Wisconsin’s program.
The Assembly Health, Aging and Long-Term Care Committee also held an executive session on AB 1027 today.
The committee also will take testimony on AB 173, which seeks to regulate pharmacy benefit managers who oversee prescription drug plans for insurers or employers.
Among other things, the bill would require them to pay a pharmacy or pharmacist dispensing fee that’s at least what is paid to the state under the Medical Assistance program.
WisPolitics reported last week the Assembly bill and its Senate companion were the fourth most lobbied legislation during the second half of 2025. A Senate committee signed off unanimously in August on that chamber’s version of the bill.
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