Wisconsin Governor Announces State Will Host ‘Listening Sessions’ on Rising Health Costs

Wisconsin Gov. Scott McCallum (R) on June 4 told business executives that state officials will hold a series of "listening sessions" this summer to address "soaring" health care costs, the AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. However, business executives and others "expressed skepticism" over whether the sessions would have an impact on the problem. "I don't expect anything from it," Richard Petitbone, president of Drewco Corp., said, adding that the "only way cost increases will be reined in ... is if the actual cost" of health care "is shifted from the insurance company back to the people that are actually using (the health care system)." David Newby, president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, added that the sessions appear "to be a pretty inadequate way" to address the "crisis" and predicted that they would not lead to "hard-and-fast solutions for the medical costs predicament." The first of McCallum's five planned sessions will take place on June 24 in Milwaukee. Last week, members of the state Assembly Health Committee said that they also will hold public hearings this summer on health care costs, which they said could lead to "proposals for regulation over what hospitals can charge and how much they can build" (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 6/6).