Saving Wisconsin's Publicly Owned Nursing Homes

In Wisconsin, where many nursing homes are county-owned and locally prized, an emblematic privatization battle illustrates the latent progressivism of rural people.

by Robert Kuttner October 8, 2024


Wisconsin, the quintessential battleground state this year, has a long progressive legacy that can be reactivated. Under the leadership of its great Progressive Era governor and later senator, Robert La Follette, Wisconsin passed the nation’s first workers’ compensation law as well as the first state banking and railroad regulations to protect consumers. In 1932, it was the first state to enact unemployment compensation benefits, even before the New Deal did. As recently as the mid-1970s, when I worked for Sen. William Proxmire, Wisconsin regularly sent progressives to the U.S. House and Senate.

One intriguing aspect of Wisconsin’s progressive legacy is the fact that Wisconsin is one of two states (the other is New York) with a substantial number of publicly owned nursing homes. Today, 21 counties, mostly rural, own these facilities. They are generally much better than private nursing homes, and are prized by local residents.

All too predictably, for-profit nursing home operators are trying to grab these public assets, with the connivance of local MAGA Republicans, sometimes taking advantage of county budget shortfalls as the pretext. The nursing homes themselves run in the black, and typically get five-star ratings.

The push to privatize is coming from conservative county boards that have become much more right-wing over the last six years. They use closed-door meetings, trying to sell these public facilities at well below market value.
https://prospect.org/health/2024-10-08-wisconsin-public-nursing-homes-sale/