Month: April 2011

Rose Marie Thiel says SeniorCare cut her husband’s medication costs by more than $1,900 last year. It is why she showed up Wednesday at a senior town hall hosted by U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl to speak out against plans to scale back the state’s prescription drug program for ages 65 and older. (LA CROSSE TRIBUNE, 4/28)

Insurance executives are taking away much needed money that could go toward helping the infirm and disabled, according to one Republican lawmaker. State Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R-Powers Lake, said she wants to make sure that state taxpayer money meant for public health insurance does not go toward funding six-figure salaries for the executives. (WISCONSIN REPORTER, 4/28)

An Australian company that makes containers for needles and medical waste is opening a processing plant in Racine County. Daniels Sharpsmart has leased a 22,000 square-foot building in Yorkville. The company will install a sterilization system controlled by robots that alone will cost $1.5 million. (AP, 4/26)

Judy Oestreich worries about people like her elderly mother, who depends on state funding for her care. Carol Wagner feels like she’s being asked to pay for everyone else. Oestreich and Wagner were among the dozens of area residents who voiced their concerns Monday about Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget during an unofficial hearing at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where nine legislators listened, took notes and asked questions for six hours. (LA CROSSE TRIBUNE, 4/26)

A Wisconsin company that makes first-aid kits used by outdoor enthusiasts is telling people to immediately destroy the Triad Group iodine prep pads in the kits because the pads could be contaminated with life-threatening bacteria and have been the subject of a national product recall. Wisconsin Pharmacal Co., of Jackson, said the Povidone iodine pads were included in various Atwater Carey first-aid kits. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 4/26)

Thousands of people who receive publicly funded food assistance report losing their benefits card routinely - a sign investigators say shows many are cheating the state's $1 billion program. Some sell their Quest cards for cash. Others trade them for drugs. And that's not the only way the state's FoodShare program is being abused, an investigation by the Journal Sentinel has found. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 4/25)

Call it a triumph of industry over bureaucracy or a defeat for consumer rights. Either way, hopefully you can understand it. Wisconsin's new insurance commissioner wants to end a rule that required health insurers to make their policies more understandable. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 4/25)