Chippewa Valley Residents Talk Healthcare, Housing in Roundtable

Chippewa Valley residents participated in a roundtable discussion hosted by Opportunity Wisconsin on Saturday on the issues facing the area.

State Representative Jodi Emerson joined the roundtable over the weekend, calling on state and federal lawmakers to address the growing affordability crisis. Much of the discussion centered around issues like healthcare access, veterans services, and affordable housing, as well as the overall rising cost of living. Following the roundtable, State Representative Emerson shared her thoughts on where lawmakers should be focusing their efforts.

“This just remind me that we need to really focus on these core pocketbook issues that help the middle class and the lower middle class and making sure that we’re doing whatever policies we can to make things as affordable as we can,” she said. “That’s how Wisconsin grows and that’s how we all get better.”

The Chippewa Valley faces some unique challenges in addressing those healthcare and housing concerns. The closure of the HSHS hospitals and Prevea clinics in the region nearly two years ago placed significant strain on remaining healthcare services. Newly planned hospitals will bring relief, but constructing those new facilities is a costly and time-consuming process.

State Representative Emerson also signed on to a letter last week calling on Congressman Derrick Van Orden to help ensure Wisconsin receives its full allotment of hospital funding from the federal government. The letter alleges that unprecedented actions taken by the Trump administration would prevent Wisconsin from drawing down the additional promised hospital assessment dollars in the budget, which will cost the state nearly $800 million every two years.

While Congressman Van Orden did vote to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits that thousands of Wisconsinites rely on, the lawmakers who signed on to the letter are asking him to continue pushing to protect federal funding for healthcare.

“You know, what I need him to do is talk to CMS and President Trump,” Emerson said. “We worked together to make sure that policy was put in our budget and signed and requested. He has been, you know, repeatedly asking the Governor and telling the Governor to do things. And so now that we found a different issue that has come up with that same pot of money, I’m putting it back in his lap and saying, you know, I need you to work with your people out in D.C. and make this happen.”

Addressing the affordable housing issue faces a similar challenge. Eau Claire’s vacancy rate is below the state average, so constructing new developments is the only way to increase affordable housing stock. The Chippewa Valley has seen a growing unhoused population over recent years, losing additional services for unhoused veterans with the closure of Klein Hall in Chippewa Falls last year.