Universal health care may not be on the budget negotiation table anymore but it hasn't died yet.
Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) is the chief architect and promoter of Healthy Wisconsin. He says it will be re-introduced in the senate in a week or two as a separate bill.
But there will be some changes. Erpenbach admits Healthy Wisconsin would have put a financial burden on some small businesses. He says it's his job to come up with a way for those businesses to handle the plan for a couple of years until the cost savings catch up.
The senator also says some families would have paid more for health care coverage. He wants to fix that too and then senate democrats will travel the state trying to sell the updated plan. He's expecting passage in the fall.
Erpenbach thinks, eventually, even republicans will come to see Healthy Wisconsin is the right thing to do but affording health care costs impacts everyone in the state. But if it involves tax increases, republicans aren't likely to give in without a fight.
