Legislative Democrats led by Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer introduced a package of bills aimed at helping with the cost of prescription drugs, school meals and housing. Photo by: Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner

Legislative Democrats started to present their vision for helping with high costs in Wisconsin Thursday, announcing bills that aim to bring down the cost of prescription drugs, food for school children and housing for low-income homeowners and renters.

The proposals — bundled together in what the bill authors called the “Lowering Costs, Improving Lives” package — are the first from legislative Democrats this session, who are back with bolstered numbers. With the most recent elections, Assembly Democrats added 10 seats, bringing their caucus to 45 out of 99 members and Senate Democrats gained 4 seats for 15 out of 33 total members. Republicans still hold majorities in both houses.

Freshman Rep. Ryan Spaude (D-Ashwaubenon) said at a press conference that the package of bills is “just the first of many proposals to come that will help Wisconsinites, who are struggling with the cost of living.” 

At a press conference, Spaude introduced the first bill, aimed at alleviating the cost of prescription drugs and increasing price transparency. 

Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison), the lead Assembly author on the bill, told the Wisconsin Examiner that Democrats wanted to come up with “targeted” and “tangible” legislative solutions for addressing costs. 

“Drugs are a thing that hits us all and it doesn’t matter if you’re middle class or even if you’re very economically secure,” Subeck said. “Whether [it’s] an inhaler, whether it’s blood pressure medicine, whether it’s medicine for a complex condition, like psoriatic arthritis, people are on these medications all their life. It’s not just a one-time sudden expense. It is an expense that hits you over and over and over again every month when you fill your prescription.” 

According to a KFF poll, about 28% of Americans who take prescription drugs report difficulty affording their medications. The poll also found that about three in 10 adults report not taking their medicines as prescribed at some point in the past year because of the cost, including 21% who say they have not filled a prescription, 21% who took an over-the counter drug instead and 12% who say they have cut pills in half or skipped a dose because of the cost.

The bill would seek to address the issue through a few avenues. First, the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance would be required to take several actions including creating an Office of Prescription Affordability to administer new initiatives related to consumer assistance and prescription drug and supply chain regulation, studying the viability of creating a state prescription drug purchasing entity and awarding grants to health care providers to develop a tool for prescribers to disclose the cost of prescription drugs for patients. 

It would also authorize Wisconsin’s drug repository program to partner with other states’ programs to allow participating pharmacies in Wisconsin to receive drugs from other states and vice versa. 

The proposal also seeks to make insulin more accessible by prohibiting health insurance policies and governmental self-insured health plans from charging more than $35 for insulin and requiring insulin manufacturers to establish a program to ensure those in urgent need access insulin at a pharmacy. 

Some of the other provisions in the bill include allowing pharmacists to count up to 10 hours of volunteer work at free or charitable clinics toward continuing education requirements, eliminate cost-sharing payments for prescription drugs for BadgerCare enrollees and creating a prescription drug affordability board. 

The policy proposals aren’t new to the Wisconsin Legislature as the ideas came from the recommendations of a 2019 task force organized by Gov. Tony Evers to study reducing prescription drug prices. Subeck sat on the committee alongside other lawmakers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, health care providers and retailers. 

During the task force, Subeck said she heard “the very real and truly heartbreaking stories of individuals who were deciding between buying food and filling their prescription, seniors who were skipping doses.” 

Previous legislation to carry out some of the proposals has failed in the Republican-led Legislature. Subeck noted that a Republican, though he is no longer a member, was a part of the task force, and said she is hopeful her current Republican colleagues will “change their tune” this session to push the proposals forward. 

“I get that there’s philosophical differences on different provisions but at the end of the day, I thought we all wanted to reduce costs. I thought we all wanted that,” Subeck said. 

Reviving Healthy School Meals for All

The second bill — coauthored by Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison) and Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) — would use state money to provide free school meals to all Wisconsin students, including those at public and private schools. 

Sen. Sarah Keyeski (D-Lodi), who introduced the proposal at the press conference, said feeding children is essential for helping them succeed in school and supporting their mental health. 

“An unacceptable number of kids today are facing hunger in our state,” Keyeski said. “No child should be in school with an empty stomach or worrying about where their next meal is coming from.”

Rep. Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire), who comes to the Legislature with an education advocacy background and some experience working in a public school, echoed this point in an interview with the Examiner. He said he used to notice that students who had behavior and attention span changes during the school day hadn’t had a nutritious meal.

“My personal experience is that there is no shortage of difficulty that kids have, that when you dig into it you then find out that it’s been a while since they had their last meal,” Phelps said. “It’s heartbreaking, but it’s not rare.”

Keyeski also emphasized that the proposal could help families with costs. 

“If this proposal were implemented — and I sure hope it is — a Wisconsin family could save approximately $154 per month per child. That’s $1,848 annually,” Keyeski said. “With this bill, we have an opportunity to help students thrive and lower costs for working families at a time when every dollar counts.”

The amounts noted by Keyeski were calculated using the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Paid Lunch Equity Tool. According to the tool, an average school meal for the 2024-25 school year costs $3.85, and if a family were purchasing two meals a day for 20 days, the cost would be about $154 per month per child.

President of the School Nutrition Association of Wisconsin and mother of two Kaitlin Tauriainen said the savings would allow her to put more money back into her community. 

Beyond the economic impact, however, Tauriainen said universal free school meals would help level the playing field for students. She said even with current programs there are students who may need the help, but don’t qualify or who qualify but don’t eat the meals due to the stigma that can be attached. 

“We have kids who qualify for free meals who aren’t taking them because they’re afraid someone will figure out they’re low-income. We focus deeply on the mental health of our students, but then put them in a position where they’d rather skip a much needed meal than risk the off chance that a peer might find out that they’re low income, [and] share it on social media,” Tauriainen said. 

Expand Homestead Tax Credit 

Democrats’ final proposal aims to provide tax relief through expanding the homestead tax credit, which supports low-income homeowners and renters.

Currently, the homestead tax credit is available to households making less than $24,680, including low-income workers, people over age 62 and people with disabilities. The maximum credit currently allowed is $1,168.

Democrats want to raise the maximum qualifying income to $35,000 starting in the 2025 tax year, and index the income limit and other factors used to determine the credit amount to keep pace with inflation.

“It is especially critical for seniors who are living on a fixed income, who often do not have the resources to keep up with rising costs. Inflation has increased over the last several years. This tax credit has failed to keep up. Our bill would expand the Homestead Tax Credit to support Wisconsinites who are struggling with the cost of housing,” Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said. 

Subeck said the three proposals span issues that hit every Wisconsinite.

“It doesn’t matter where in the state you live — where you fall on the economic spectrum. It doesn’t matter whether you’re old or young, all of us are impacted by prescription drug costs. All of us are impacted by housing costs and all of us are impacted by food costs,” Subeck said.

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