BUSINESS

Wisconsin businesses uniting for health coalition

Some Milwaukee firms look for answers on rising health insurance costs.

By Mike Norbut, AMNews staff. Feb. 10, 2003.

Saddled with rising health care costs, 11 Milwaukee-area businesses and two business organizations have formed a coalition to examine ways to keep coverage affordable for companies and their employees.

The coalition, the Business Health Care Group of Southeast Wisconsin, includes some big players in the Milwaukee market, including Harley Davidson Inc., Miller Brewing Co., and Briggs and Stratton Corp. The group members represent about 44,000 employees between them.

"A concern for some time has been the cost of health care and how it's uneconomic and unfriendly for companies," said Matt Gonring, vice president of global communications and marketing for Rockwell Automation Inc., one of the group's members. "There's some logic in us banding together."

A recent regional cost study by Mercer Human Resource Consulting reported Milwaukee-area costs were 55% higher than those in other metropolitan areas, Gonring said. The study drove companies to seek sources for the skyrocketing costs, he said.

John Bechler, president of the Kenosha Area Business Alliance, said his organization was part of the coalition in hopes of finding a cost remedy for the area's smaller employers.

"We want to look at the best practices in terms of wellness and quality as well as cost," he said.

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