Sincerely,
Jim Doyle
Governor
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
April 21, 2004
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am vetoing Senate Bill 322. The bill changes the definition of a group health benefit plan in such a way that it will harm consumers. Under current law, a group health benefit plan is a plan that is sold to two or more employees of an employer or an individual policy sold to three or more employees of an employer. In both cases, numerous consumer protections apply. This bill would restrict this definition to only those health benefit plans that are funded or reimbursed in whole or in part by an employer on behalf of their employees.
Under this bill, many employees would be removed from small employer health insurance protections if employers currently do not, or in the future would not, reimburse or fund a portion of the employees' health plan. In either situation, these employees would no longer be covered by the protections currently available to small insurance plan participants, regardless of whether the employer made a contribution or reimbursement to the employee for costs associated with the insurance. These protections include:
•
Continuation and conversion rights, which permit persons who leave the group to access group health insurance for up to 18 months. While the individual may be asked to pay the premiums for a continuation policy, coverage under these policies is generally less expensive and offer better benefits than individual coverage. Once the conversion period is ended, the individual must then be offered a conversion policy, which is individual coverage.
•
Portability, which permits an individual with prior group coverage to move to their next group, or in some cases, to the state high-risk pool without serving a new pre-existing condition waiting period. Persons who do not exercise their portability rights within 63 days of losing group coverage lose this right.
•
Guarantee issue for small group coverage, meaning that the insurer must accept all members of a group without excluding pre-existing health conditions. In the individual market, each policy is underwritten and insurers are permitted to refuse coverage to those individuals who do not meet the insurer's underwriting standards or exclude coverage for pre-existing health conditions.
•
Mandated benefits required for group plans, for example, benefits for mental health and AODA treatment, are not required for individual policies.
•
Limits on the rates that can be charged to employers with small group health insurance policies that do not apply in the individual market.
When employees are removed from group coverage they would then be forced to look at individual plans, including the state HIRSP program, for their insurance needs. Individual plans are often less affordable than group coverage and many would be unable to afford these individual plans. The result would be an increase in the number of uninsured individuals in the state.
While the bill was originally developed as a way to decrease costs and improve access, it probably would have the opposite effect and result in higher costs and fewer insured individuals and families. Because I want to ensure that access to coverage is as broad as possible and that the consumer protections of small group insurance laws are available to as many people as possible, I am vetoing this bill.
Sincerely,
Jim Doyle
Governor
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
April 21, 2004
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am vetoing
Senate Bill 351. The bill allows all counties, except Milwaukee and Menominee, to decrease the number of county board supervisors between federal decennial censuses, either by a board-initiated redistricting plan or by petition and referendum. Under current law, counties may change the number of county board members only once every ten years when a redistricting plan is adopted to conform to the federal decennial census. An exception to this rule was adopted under
2003 Wisconsin Act 32, whereby Milwaukee County may reduce its number of county supervisors once prior to November 15, 2010.
Senate Bill 351 prudently limits the downsizing of a county board through successful petition and referendum to once per decade. There is no limit, however, on the number of times a county board itself may adopt a redistricting plan that reduces the number of supervisors or the number of times a referendum question to downsize may appear on the ballot. The open-ended nature of these provisions may create circumstances where the cost, time and effort spent on redistricting far outweigh any savings or benefits obtained. Also, unlike the one-time authority granted to Milwaukee County, this bill provides ongoing authority into the future.
While I object to this bill because of its open-ended and ongoing authority, a more tailored bill could be developed which would accomplish the goals behind this piece of legislation.
Sincerely,
Jim Doyle
Governor
Office of the Governor
April 21, 2004
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am vetoing Senate Bill 484. This bill requires any contract under Medical Assistance for prepaid health benefits be made on an actuarially sound basis consistent with federal law. The bill specifies that this requirement is applicable to contracts issued or renewed on the effective date of the bill. I object to this bill because it is unnecessary and duplicative.
Prepaid health benefits, often provided by health maintenance organizations (HMOs), are a critical component of the effort to ensure high quality health care for Medical Assistance and BadgerCare recipients. HMOs, through prepaid health benefit plans, provide service to Medical Assistance recipients at a discount compared to service purchased on a fee-for-service basis. Current federal law requires the state to propose rates to the HMOs that are actuarially sound. This is a condition the state must meet to qualify for federal Medicaid funding. It is unlikely that the state would ever enter into contracts with prepaid health plans if those contracts did not qualify for federal Medicaid funds. Furthermore, the provisions could create confusion in the future regarding contract negotiations between the state and prepaid health plan providers if federal laws were to change, but corresponding changes to state law were not enacted.
Sincerely,
Jim Doyle
Governor
__________________
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Secretary of State
To the Honorable, the Senate:
Sincerely,
Douglas La follette
Secretary of State
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Secretary of State
To the Honorable, the Senate:
Sincerely,
Douglas La follette
Secretary of State
State of Wisconsin
Department of Revenue
April 26, 2004
The Honorable, The Legislature:
I am submitting the quarterly report of the Wisconsin Lottery for the quarter ending March 31, 2004. As required by s.
565.37(3), Wis. Stats., the attached materials contain unaudited Wisconsin Lottery year to date Sales and Expenditure information.
Revenues for the quarter were $116.2 million, a $10.7 million increase for the same quarter last year.
The information reported here is a summary and is not intended to be a complete financial accounting of Wisconsin Lottery operations.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this report, please feel free to contact me at (608) 266-6466.
Sincerely,
Michael L. Morgan
Secretary of Revenue
State of Wisconsin
Investment Board
April 20, 2004
The Honorable, The Legislature:
Pursuant to ss.
25.17(14r), Stats., I have attached a revised copy of SWIB's Investment Guidelines plus a "red-lined" copy that shows the amendments that the Board of Trustees recently made.
Our March 31, 2004 Investment Goals, Strategies and Performance Report that you recently received provides a more detailed discussion of the strategy and investment changes that are being implemented under the guidelines. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Sincerely,
David C. Mills
Executive Director
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
Aprill 21, 2004
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Clark
, Mary Ann,
of Cumberland, as a member of the Nursing Home Administrator Examining Board, to serve for the term ending July 1, 2005.
Sincerely,
JIM DOYLE
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Health, Children, Families, Aging and Long Term Care.
Office of the Governor
Aprill 21, 2004
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Kinney
, Maureen L.,
of La Crosse, as a member of the Wisconsin Waterways Commission, to serve for the term ending March 1, 2009.
Sincerely,
JIM DOYLE
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
