According to the Wisconsin Employer Survey, 44 percent of Wisconsin employers saw health care costs increase by more than 10 percent over the last year. Another 41 percent of businesses saw costs go up between 6 and 10 percent.
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce conducted the survey over the first three weeks of July on a variety of topics.
The Wisconsin Employer Survey also found that Wisconsin is an outlier when it comes to high health care costs. Fifty-four percent of business leaders said their health care costs are higher in Wisconsin than other states where they operate. This supports data from a recent study showing that Wisconsin has the fifth-highest hospital costs in the country. Additionally, employers said in the WMC survey that the prices have resulted in higher costs for customers, lower compensation for employees and less capital investment.
“Wisconsin employers are at an extreme disadvantage when it comes to health care costs,” said WMC Associate Vice President of Government Relations Rachel Ver Velde. “Instead of investing their limited resources into increased employee compensation or expansion of their companies, business leaders are having to pay for higher and higher prices for health care.”
When asked what is the one thing state government could do to help their business, the top answer was to make health care more affordable. In addition, there is near unanimous support for hospital price transparency and a workers compensation medical fee schedule.
The Wisconsin Employer Survey is conducted twice a year by WMC. For the Summer 2024 edition, WMC surveyed 182 employers that make up a representative sample of its membership. Businesses of all sizes, industries and geographic locations in Wisconsin participated.
