Committee Advances Medical Travel Fund, Which Could Include Abortions

Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

A new travel expense fund for county employees seeking medical care out of state recently received a recommendation for approval from a county committee.

The program would reimburse county employees for part of their travel expenses and was drafted as a way around state laws that likely prohibit the county from covering travel expenses for employees seeking an abortion out of state.

The fund was proposed by Sup. Ryan Clancy. It follows an earlier attempt by the supervisor to create a fund specifically for abortion travel costs earlier this year. At the time, the county’s attorneys advised him such a fund would likely run afoul of state law and urged him to consider other options. One of the ideas they proffered was a general medical travel fund like the one Clancy is currently proposing.

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 an 1849 state law outlawing abortion in Wisconsin went into effect. But the state laws that concerned the county’s attorneys were statutes establishing “Prohibitions on funding for abortion-related activities.” Based on advice from the Office of Corporation Counsel, and while negotiations with Wisconsin State Legislature Republicans for a sales tax were ongoing, the board rejected Clancy’s proposal.

The new iteration recently sailed through the board’s Personnel Committee Tuesday. Sup. Shawn Rolland, who voted against the previous version, even attached his name to the resolution as a co-sponsor. Sup. Patti Logsdon, a conservative, was the only vocal opponent on the committee, “As supervisors we need to be good stewards of our taxpayers’ money, and I do not believe this is one of those items that’s necessary,” she said.

Logsdon made a motion to reject and Sup. Peter Burgelis responded, “I think this is a common sense resolution that can help with health and health equity of Milwaukee County employees.”

Sup. Steven Shea, who opposed the old legislation, added, “I really don’t see a need to reject. Wisconsin has ample healthcare facilities, but on those rare occasions where an employee might need to travel, this might be needed.”

The committee dispensed with Logsdon’s proposed rejection and passed the resolution three to two, with supervisors Tony Staskunas and Logsdon voting against it.

The fund, if approved by the full board, would have Human Resources create a $31,200 fund to reimburse employees up to $1,000 for travel and lodging in 2024. Clancy said reimbursement rates are set by the federal government and they are $50 per night for a room and 22 cents per mile for fuel. “This isn’t extravagant travel by any means,” Clancy said.

Tony Maze, the county’s director of benefits administration, said the plan proposed by Clancy could be implemented. He noted that the county already has a similar plan in place, which is available to county employees undergoing treatment for cancer, congenital heart disease or transplant surgeries.

Deputy Corporation Counsel Scott Brown told the committee that while the office previously opined that the abortion travel reimbursement was likely illegal, this proposal posed no such challenge. “It is providing transportation services,” he said, not abortion services.