Month: January 2012

SHINE Medical Technologies of Middleton said Tuesday it will construct an $85 million manufacturing plant in Janesville that will employ more than 100 people with average salaries of $60,000 a year. The company, which produces medical isotopes and cancer treatment elements, selected Janesville over Chippewa Falls, Stevens Point and locations in Louisiana and New Mexico. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 1/25)

During a press conference Sunday, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said the health of Wisconsin’s most vulnerable children are being caught in the crossfire of partisan politics. (MILWAUKEE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/24)

Thomas Van Hoof learned about the nuances of how some health plans cover oral chemotherapy drugs the same way most people do: He was diagnosed with cancer. The cancer was multiple myeloma, and the treatment includes Revlimid, a drug that costs roughly $120,000 a year. Revlimid is given orally, not intravenously, and the difference meant that Van Hoof's health plan would cover only half the cost. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 1/24)

Gov. Scott Walker's administration has touted for months its efforts to balance the state budget, but now it also has acknowledged a significant way in which the budget isn't balanced. To keep the possibility alive of making further cuts to state health programs, the Walker administration quietly certified to the federal government on Dec. 29 that the state had a deficit. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 1/23)

The 15-year state lawmaker made an attention-grabbing claim about federal health reforms, which he and other Republicans label as "Obamacare," in an opinion piece published Jan. 9, 2012. Writing in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Lasee referenced a study of President Barack Obama’s initiative on Wisconsin. He said that according to the study, "nearly 90 percent of people with (health) insurance will have their costs go up by more than 30 percent." (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 1/23)