Johnsrud charges Aurora the new wal-mart of healthcare
February 7, 2002
FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: Representative DuWayne Johnsrud
(608) 266-3534
MADISON - - "Aurora Health Care is the newest supercenter, minus the discount prices," says Representative DuWayne Johnsrud, R-Eastman. Johnsrud's State Trauma System, forwarded Tuesday in the Assembly, will include classification and verification of hospitals, a trauma registry, facility evaluation, quality improvement, and education and injury prevention. "This system will determine how many trauma centers are needed in each area," said Johnsrud. "Green Bay already has a level 2 trauma center and the Green Bay area already has four MRIs. Aurora wants to become a level 2 trauma center as well as adding two more MRIs." Johnsrud wants to remind health care consumers that they are going to end up paying all of the millions of dollars that this costs.
Johnsrud, who is the senior member of the Assembly Health Committee, feels hospitals betrayed the health care consumers of Wisconsin. "The average daily charge for a hospital stay in Wisconsin went from $532 in 1987 to $2,242 in 2000, over a 300% increase," said Johnsrud. "My first speech on the floor of the Assembly in 1985 was to support the elimination of Hospital Capitol Expenditure Review and the Rate-setting Commission. The hospitals promised the health-care consumers of Wisconsin that they would not duplicate services, gouge consumers with inflated rates, and over-build. They've broken all of those promises."
"Wisconsin hospitals have grown by leaps and bounds since the review of their building projects by Capitol Expenditure Review was removed. They have spent billions on expansion, while showing $450,000,000 in profits last year alone," Johnsrud said. "Health care consumers wonder why their premiums keep skyrocketing, while so-called not-for-profit hospitals hide the money they've piled up by pouring it into building projects." Aurora Health Care alone has borrowed $900,000,000 from the Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority, a little-known authority that provides low-interest bonding for hospital expansion. "There is no doubt where the money comes from to pay off these loans. It comes out of the pockets of health care consumers," said Johnsrud.
"People wonder why their heath care premium rates and costs keep going up. With Aurora Health Care as an example, the answers become very clear," said Johnsrud.