Health Care Referendum: Let's Try A Little Truth in the Wording

There have been reports in recent days about a group collecting the required signatures to get Advisory Referendum on ballots in Oshkosh, Eau Claire and Douglas County; now Oak Creek and South Milwaukee have joined this "statewide movement".

Following is the language of the resolution being promoted by Citizen Action of Wisconsin: "Shall the state legislature enact health care reform legislation by December 31, 2009, that guarantees to every Wisconsin resident affordable coverage as good as what is provided to state legislators?"

Wisconsin has one of the lowest rates of uninsured residents in the entire country and under Governor Doyle's leadership, Badger Care was expanded this year to make health insurance more easily accessible at low cost to virtually every child in the state. The Citizen Action "movement" is simply a thinly veiled attempt to promote the "Healthy Wisconsin" Senate Bill that failed to advance in the last legislative session. Apparently these folks think it a good idea to try and mandate the most expensive (state employee) coverage and then pay for it with a huge new payroll tax on all employers - a tax that would more than double insurance costs for most in the private sector. Where would this "feel good" movement be if the Board of Directors of Citizen Action included the businesses that would have to pay for it?

Without a little truth in the language of the referendum, I suppose a gullible public fed up with high health care costs will 'vote' their support of this measure. Heck, I think we should also vote for $2.00 a gallon gas and "a chicken in every pot"!