MADISON, Wis. — In recent interviews, Republican U.S. Representative and right-wing gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany offered his proposals for reducing health insurance costs: get less health care.
While taking a break from shutting down the federal government, taking away food help from low income families, and hiking health insurance costs, Tiffany said, “One of the things that Obamacare did is it was very prescriptive and it says the insurance company, you have to cover these things. Well, sometimes people don’t need those things.” [La Crosse Talk 10/31/25 at 30:51]
Tiffany is also touting a health insurance product sold through a special interest lobbying group in Missouri as an option for Wisconsinites, “Farm Bureau has a beautiful plan that they have implemented in the states of Tennessee and Missouri. Why not bring that to Wisconsin …” [The Vicki McKenna Show 11/5/25 at 1:19:34]
He fails to mention the catch: the so-called plan is exempted from consumer protections in federal law and can deny people coverage for pre-existing conditions. In fact, the plan even has to include a disclaimer that it is not officially regulated as health insurance.
Whether it’s that Tiffany doesn’t know or that he doesn’t care, critical care the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires insurance companies to cover includes services like cancer screenings, routine immunizations, and high blood pressure and diabetes screenings.
The ACA also includes other protections for consumers from insurance company abuses, like prohibiting insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, preventing insurers from charging women more than men for the same coverage, and banning lifetime dollar limits on coverage.
A Better Wisconsin Together Deputy Director Mike Browne commented, “Tom Tiffany has a lot of terrible ideas, but higher costs and less coverage for critical health care services are a couple of his worst.”
