Battleground Wisconsin

More than 1,100 members of Wisconsin faith communities have added their names to a "Faithful Citizenship" statement in the last few months. The statement calls on people of faith to consider issues of poverty in their decisions at the voting booth this November. The signers come from more than 100 Wisconsin zip codes and from more than 20 different faith traditions. The statement, and the list of people who have asked to be counted as supporters, will be delivered to the gubernatorial candidates, Congressional candidates and the leadership of the Wisconsin state legislature. Leaders from the Wisconsin Council of Churches, the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, Citizen Action of Wisconsin Action Fund and WISDOM will hold a conference call on Thursday, October 23 at 9:30 am to discuss the statement and its implications for the election. Members of the media with questions contact david.liners1@gmail.com.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Democracy Campaign will hold a media call urging immediate emergency action to address conflicts of interest in the governance of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). At a time when hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin workers are in search of greater economic opportunity, the state’s scarce job creation dollars are a precious public resource. Good government advocates will make the case that the flawed structure of WEDC creates an unacceptable risk of legalized bribery. The high stakes election this fall, and the massive amounts of money being raised and spent, elevate this risk. Good government advocates will call for immediate emergency action to insulate public job creation dollars from political influence.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin is releasing a new report on Thursday at 11 AM analyzing 2014 small group health insurance rate variations between Wisconsin and Minnesota to determine which state offers more affordable health coverage for small businesses. Like the well-documented individual marketplace rate gap between Minnesota and Wisconsin, the report finds a significant gap in the small employer health insurance market. The report provides regional numbers, making it possible to compare each of the metro area of Wisconsin to rates in Minnesota. Under the Affordable Care Act, states have the tools to reduce the cost of health coverage for their residents. Despite individual market comparisons between Wisconsin and Minnesota, no research has comprehensively compared small group health insurance rates. This report includes weighted average analysis of Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) options that have posted their insurance rates on MNSure.org and Healthcare.gov to determine policy impacts on pre

New Report: Wisconsin Health Insurance Costs Higher Due to State Actions Statewide: On a media call Thursday July 3rd, Citizen Action of Wisconsin released “Taking the Next Step: The Role of States in Restraining Health Insurance Costs” (audio here). The full report uses statistical research techniques to demonstrate a relationship between state policy choices and health insurance rates. The report is based on first year 2014 premiums rates in 34 state which are publicly available due to the Affordable Care Act. The media call was joined by Senator Minority Leader Chris Larson and Jon Peacock of Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. The report reveals that 3 state policies that Wisconsin has not pursued have a measurable impact on the cost of coverage. Accepting federal Medicaid funds for BadgerCare, requiring insurance companies to submit proposed rates for prior approval, and having an elected insurance commissioner all are associated with lower health insurance premiums. The full report can be d

Report Release: Racing to Create Jobs Thursday Media Call on how the final push for health care enrollment can create thousands of jobs in Wisconsin. Statewide: On Thursday Citizen Action of Wisconsin will release a new report on a media call on how enrollment in Healthcare.gov can promote the creation of thousands of private sector jobs. Tax credits available to citizens to help purchase coverage represent untapped federal resources to create jobs in Wisconsin. With the countdown until the end of Open Enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace on March 31st, Wisconsin only has a short window to enroll citizens and create new jobs. Joining the call to discuss the implications of the findings will be State Senator Dave Hansen and State Representative Mandela Barnes. This report includes estimates of how many people need be enrolled per job created, as well as regional breakdown of how many jobs could be created. The report finds that promoting enrollment in the Affordable Care Act is a potent strategy f

Report Release: Is WEDC's Job Impact Fairly Distributed? Thursday Media Call to release report which raises questions about political and geographic preference in WEDC's jobs numbers. TELECONFERENCE FOR WISCONSIN MEDIA Thursday 10:30 A.M. Statewide: Citizen Action of Wisconsin is releasing a new report on the performance of Governor Walker’s privatized jobs agency, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, which finds geographic disparities and troubling political correlations. The report will be released Thursday morning on a statewide media call. Joining the call to discuss the implications of the findings will be Senate Democratic Leader Chris Larson and State Representative Sandy Pasch. This report includes new data self reported by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation showing job impact by county, region and legislative district. The report finds a large disparity in job impact between regions of Wisconsin and legislative districts. WHAT: Teleconference to discuss report on WE

Citizen Action of Wisconsin is releasing the 8th annual Wisconsin Health Insurance Cost Ranking report Wednesday morning on a statewide media call. Joining the call to discuss the implications of this year’s findings will be three state lawmakers: Senate Democratic Leader Chris Larson, Senator Jon Erpenbach (Ranking Democrat on Senate Health Committee), and Rep. Melissa Sargent. In addition to providing new numbers and cost rankings for 2014, this year’s report includes data on the historic rates of health insurance inflation for each city. This year’s report also provides data on the quality of health insurance plans offered in each city and region. The report finds a large disparity in health insurance inflation between cities and regions of Wisconsin. For the first time this year, the report will also include cost ranking data on health insurance available to small businesses and purchased directly by consumers. This data is now available because of the launch of new marketplaces (or exchanges) under

Media Call: Study shows tax fairness policies could give Wisconsin a much-needed boost Statewide - While economic policy based on tax cuts for the wealthy is an article of faith for many elected officials, a new study shows such policies actually undercut job growth. Figures from the Economic Policy Institute make the case that closing tax loopholes and ending tax breaks for the wealthy would raise revenue that could be used for job-creating investments in Wisconsin -- producing 76,956 new jobs. At 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, EPI Senior Policy Analyst Joshua Smith will be joined by Citizen Action Executive Director Robert Kraig for a conference call to discuss how tax fairness coupled with job creation policies could boost Wisconsin’s economy. The national study is especially relevant in Wisconsin, which has bought heavily into corporate tax breaks as a core strategy only to continue to lag behind its neighbors in job development.

Media Call: New Report Will Explain Higher Health Insurance Rates in Wisconsin than Minnesota Report will explain massive health insurance premium disparity between MN and WI on new health insurance exchanges Wisconsin and Minnesota Statewide: On a media call at 10:00 AM Wednesday, Citizen Action of Wisconsin will release a report documenting vast differences between Minnesota and Wisconsin in the cost for health insurance on the individual insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act. http://www.citizenactionwi.org/report_mn_wi The report, A Tale of Two States: Why Wisconsin’s Health Insurance Individual Marketplace Premiums are Dramatically Higher than Minnesota’s, will delve into the causes of this rate disparity. The report will also examine health insurance individual market exchange rates for Wisconsin’s major metro areas, and differentials in cost.

New Wisconsin Health Coverage Option Report Report ranks Metro Regions based on insurance options available in new marketplace created by health reform, lists options in every county Link to press release: http://www.citizenactionwi.org/insurance_option_report_released

Media Call: Preview of WI Health Insurance Rates with National Expert MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, national expert on health reform and its impact on WI to explain rates on new marketplace (or exchange)