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Johnson, a former United Way executive and current member of the La Crosse County Board, proposed a 100-day health care reform agenda Thursday morning.
Standing outside St. Clare Health Mission, a nonprofit clinic providing free health care, the Democratic challenger said the state is in a crisis.
“We should have had a solution to this, and we don’t,” Johnson said.
Johnson said too many Wisconsin residents are uninsured or underinsured, and her agenda calls for a series of community discussions leading to a regional summit involving patients, insurers, employers and employees in the 32nd Senate District.
She’d present the findings to the Senate Health Committee for consideration during the upcoming legislative session.
She would also co-sponsor two health care reform bills, one on mental health parity and another on autism coverage, she said, bills blocked by Republicans during the past session.
“We cannot, any longer, allow this to be cast aside or blocked because of partisanship,” Johnson said.
Johnson said health care reform is the No. 1 issue she hears about when she’s out campaigning and the main reason she’s running.
“The reason that we need to continue to have to talk about it is we haven’t made progress,” she said.
Although Johnson admits reforming a costly and inefficient health care system is a complex issue, she has identified six components she hopes will be part of her “sweeping and aggressive” reform package.
Efficient and effective delivery systems, portability, comprehensiveness, transparency, accessibility and affordability are her priorities, and if the proposed summit affirms those she’ll move forward in trying to make them a reality.
“What we need to do is raise the level, the access, the availability of health care for everybody,” she said.
Sharon Hampson, La Crosse County Board supervisor and chairwoman of Health and Human Services, said those reforms are vital.
“If you’re going to solve this health care crisis, you’re going to have to get a lot of people upset and a lot of people talking,” said Hampson, who applauded Johnson’s agenda. “People are going to have to give things up. It’s ugly.”
Incumbent Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse, commended Johnson for recognizing health care as a major issue and said that working collaboratively is the key, something he’s going to continue to do.
He pointed to his leadership in setting up the state’s Autism Task Force, which was recently awarded one of six grants from the federal government to try to establish regional centers to battle the disease.
He’s also supportive of tax incentives for wellness programs and using the Wisconsin worker’s compensation program as a model for health care reform.
“We find there’s a lot we can do as an individual to cut down on health care costs,” Kapanke said.
