Citizen Action Weekend Newsletter, May 17th
May 17th
Citizen Action is hiring! NEW Driftless (La Crosse Area) Coop Organizer; Driftless (La Crosse Area) Deep Canvass Field Organizer; Green Bay Deep Canvass Field Organizer
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Today, Seantor Jeff Smith and Citizen Action launched legislative effort to stabilize Wisconsin’s Hospitals.
Today at a media conference in Eau Claire, State Senator Jeff Smith and Citizen Action of Wisconsin held a media conference to launch legislative action to protect the public health by stabilizing Wisconsin’s health systems, including vital hospitals, from impending closures and system collapses.
Wisconsin hospitals have the economic benefit of nonprofit status because they are structured as charities. Their lobbyists used their immense power to talk the State Legislature into de-regulation in the 1980s, promising that, once unleashed, they would more efficiently provide high quality care at an affordable price to every community.
Instead, they abused our trust by building massive hospital chains focused on the most profitable types of medical services. They increased prices to consumers in order to engage in cut-throat competition with each other, generating windfall profits for large hospital chains while bankrupting community hospitals. In their endless drive for more revenue, hospital chains destabilized the medical care system, drove up healthcare costs, and failed to provide the services that keep people healthy.
Enough is enough. The hospital monopolies are non profits in name only, and are acting like banks, fossil fuel utilities, and other for-profit highly regulated industries. It is long overdue for the hospital industry to lose its special protections and be regulated in the public interest.
The issue is not public money or funding. It is the dangerous business practices of the hospital monopolies. No matter how much money we give them, if there is no accountability they will continue to rip gaping holes in the hospital safety net and leave communities holding the bag.
Our state legislature has the power to put the guardrails back in place to stabilize our teetering healthcare system. Until they act, every community in the state risks suddenly losing critical healthcare access.
Reestablishing public control of the hospital system is a stepping stone towards our North Star of Medicare for All, where democracy makes the key decisions about the human right to health care.
Read more about our specific legislative proposals to address the crisis and support public health.
Citizen Action and its members have launched a campaign in support of this agenda and will organize to make this a top issue in our state legislative endorsement process and the public debate in the election.
WATCH media event today with Senator Jeff Smith
If you are interested in joining our campaign, contact, [email protected]
Take Action to Stabilize Wisconsin Hospitals!
Join our next statewide virtual Healthcare Action Team Meeting, Wednesday, May 22nd, 7pm
For more information, contact: [email protected]
Join us to learn more about our proposed legislation to stabilize Wisconsin Hospitals to protect the public health in our communities.
Our state legislature has the power to put the guardrails back in place to stabilize our teetering healthcare system. Until they act, every community in the state risks suddenly losing critical healthcare access.
Learn more about Citizen Action’s proposed state legislation.
Attend Citizen Action North Side Rising Healthcare Action Team Meeting, Saturday, May 18th, Noon
For more information contact, [email protected]
Attend Climate Action in a River City, with La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds, Tuesday, May 21, 7:00pm
Join the Sierra Club next Tuesday as we will hear from La Crosse Mayor Reynolds about the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI), an organization that collaborates to heal and protect the health and sustainability of the Mississippi River system.
In addition, the Mayor Reynolds will discuss the City’s climate action plan, and new initiatives that incorporate them both. There will be time for questions during this one-hour program.
Mayor Reynolds is the co-chair of MRCTI. Globally, he’s worked with river city mayors from around the world on environmental challenges and solutions. Locally, he has championed a community-wide climate action plan to reduce carbon emissions and address and mitigate adverse effects of drought, floods, and storms.
Register here, visit or call 608-315-2693
Citizen Action in the News
Citizen Action’s Robert Kraig was on the Earl Ingram Show for the full hour to discuss the State Senate’s veto override session, which ended in controversy. The dysfunction is another symptom of the gerrymandered Legislature which does not represent the sentiment of Wisconsin voters.
The Earl Ingram Show airs on the growing Civic Media radio network from 8 AM to 10 AM weekdays. Robert is the regular guest every Wednesday 9 AM to 10 AM. Civic Media now has radio stations in every media market where Citizen Action has an organizing co-op. You can also subscribe to the Earl Ingram show on Apple, Google, Spotify, and other podcast platforms, and listen on Alexa and on TuneIn. For video of the program you can watch on YouTube.
Listen to “Protect Public Health, Stabilize Wisconsin Hospitals” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
We take a dive into the deepening crisis in the Wisconsin hospital system. Neither political party is talking about the fundamental cause, the insatiable appetite by the hospital industry for windfall profits? Will state leaders step up to the challenge? So far, the indications are not positive, as the Governor and the Legislature are in gridlock, and the Department of Health Services refuses to launch an investigation into the sudden and unplanned closure of 2 major hospitals and 90 clinics in Western Wisconsin. We make the direct connection between sky high hospital prices in Wisconsin and the deregulation of hospitals. A new Rand report makes our case, as it finds health plans pay an astounding 318% more than Medicare for the same services in Wisconsin.
We discuss the poor leadership, and the terrible example set for students by top officials in the UW system on the student Gaza War protests, and their failure to nurture free speech and deeper dialogue that challenges us to think deeper about the crisis. Instead, leaders put students safety at risk by unleashing the police on Madison encampment.
In case you forgot about Donald, this week Trump took timeout from his hush money trial to shake down oil barons for $1 billion to win his election and kill Biden’s climate breakthroughs. Will Big Oil ante up and bankroll Trump’s election and his legal defense?
Listen to the show!
Read more about our specific legislative proposals to address the Hospital crisis and support public health. TAKE ACTION NOW!
Social media post of the week
