When Louis Brandeis praised the 50 states as "laboratories of democracy," he didn't claim that every policy experiment would work. So we hope the eyes of America will turn to Wisconsin, and the effort by Madison Democrats to make that "progressive" state a petri dish for government-run health care.

This exercise is especially instructive, because it reveals where the "single-payer," universal coverage folks end up. Democrats who run the Wisconsin Senate have dropped the Washington pretense of incremental health-care reform and moved directly to passing a plan to insure every resident under the age of 65 in the state. And, wow, is "free" health care expensive. The plan would cost an estimated $15.2 billion, or $3 billion more than the state currently collects in all income, sales and corporate income taxes. It represents an average of $510 a month in higher taxes for every Wisconsin worker.

Employees and businesses would pay for the plan by sharing the cost of a new 14.5% employment tax on wages. Wisconsin businesses would have to compete with out-of-state businesses and foreign rivals while shouldering a 29.8% combined federal-state payroll tax, nearly double the 15.3% payroll tax paid by non-Wisconsin firms for Social Security and Medicare combined.

This employment tax is on top of the $1 billion grab bag of other levies that Democratic Governor Jim Doyle proposed and the tax-happy Senate has also approved, including a $1.25 a pack increase in the cigarette tax, a 10% hike in the corporate tax, and new fees on cars, trucks, hospitals, real estate transactions, oil companies and dry cleaners. In all, the tax burden in the Badger state could rise to 20% of family income, which is slightly more than the average federal tax burden. "At least federal taxes pay for an Army and Navy," quips R.J. Pirlot of the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce business lobby.

As if that's not enough, the health plan includes a tax escalator clause allowing an additional 1.5 percentage point payroll tax to finance higher outlays in the future. This could bring the payroll tax to 16%. One reason to expect costs to soar is that the state may become a mecca for the unemployed, uninsured and sick from all over North America. The legislation doesn't require that you have a job in Wisconsin to qualify, merely that you live in the state for at least 12 months. Cheesehead nation could expect to attract health-care free-riders while losing productive workers who leave for less-taxing climes.

The state's hospitals also were given the highest score in the country.

The information released Monday marked the first year that the agency compiled and released an overall score for each state. The agency has been releasing state information on health care quality for four years.

Wisconsin historically has ranked high in surveys on health care quality.

"Pretty consistently, we are sitting in the top-performing states," said Dana Richardson, vice president of quality for the Wisconsin Hospital Association.

Wisconsin also was among the five best-performing states in ambulatory care and ranked in the top 25% for nursing home care.

On June 22, 2007, Governor Doyle said: "Wisconsin hospitals provide the highest quality health care in the nation. Wisconsin’s health care providers (give) high quality care to patients presenting with a wide range of medical needs and conditions. Through their efforts, Wisconsin leads the nation in many important indicators of patient health."

The Democrat controlled Senate wants to raise taxes by $15 billion to pay for this scheme—that’s more than we raise from corporate income taxes, sales taxes and income taxes combined. Those Democrats just can’t stand the fact we might get out of the top ten highest taxed states in the nation. Why would we want to have the government take over one of the best health care delivery systems in the world? What will we gain?

In this global economy, people and businesses have a choice. Businesses can leave. Manufacturers can leave. I bet the sick nationwide will flock to Wisconsin to receive guaranteed health care for a small fee, provided they can get jobs. (Well there is always our generous welfare system with free health care if they can’t.)

If you think health care is expensive now, wait ‘til it is free. What if we had food insurance and food was free after you met your deductible?

This legislation is similar to the failing Canadian system. Canadians often wait more than 16 weeks to see a doctor. They wait nearly six months for treatment after breast cancer diagnosis (after waiting to get into their doctor). They waited five years for the best cancer drugs. Canadians die waiting for services. Let me say that again. Canadians die waiting for medical services.