Children’s Threatening to Make Healthcare Even More Expensive for Wisconsin Patients
Tell Children’s Wisconsin to put its billions in reserves and donations to work for the community – not demand more from Wisconsin patients.
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Children’s Wisconsin is ready to exit its contract with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin unless Anthem agrees to a 25 percent rate hike – all while sitting on $3.8 billion in net assets and spending just a fraction of its donations on charity care.
The Demand
Right now, Children’s Wisconsin is threatening to leave Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin’s network unless the insurer agrees to a 25 percent rate increase over the next three years. That demand is coming from a tax-exempt health system with billions in the bank – and Wisconsin patients would be left to foot the bill.
Far From a Struggling Nonprofit
These rate demands would make healthcare even more expensive in our state, where, according to a new study, hospitals are already charging roughly 26 percent higher prices than in neighboring Illinois – costs that are ultimately passed on to Wisconsin families, employers, and taxpayers.
Far from being a struggling nonprofit, Children’s Wisconsin sat on $3.8 billion in net assets as recently as 2024, meaning it could just about cover its annual operating budget of $1.27 billion for 3 full years on its reserves alone. Additionally, the “nonprofit” health system enjoyed a 14 percent profit margin in 2025, more than triple the national average of 3.6 percent for all hospitals that same year. On top of that, because of its nonprofit status, it still doesn’t pay any federal taxes and is exempt from most state and local taxes.
Where the Donations Go
Not only is Children’s exempt from taxes, it also raises money for charity care. Children’s receives $118 million in contributions and grants each year. But rather than using these donations to provide community benefits, it only spends around 10 percent of what it fundraises on actually providing charity care. Recent reporting shows that the nonprofit system only spent a little more than $9 million – a mere 0.5 percent of their revenue – on charitable care in 2024.
Contributions & grants vs. charity care
Just a fraction of what Children’s raises goes to charity care.
Anthem is working hard to reach an agreement with Children’s, but only if the terms of that agreement don’t increase healthcare costs for Wisconsin patients.