Wisconsin's Governor Vetoed Two DPC Bills. One Candidate to Replace Him Cosponsored the First.

Wisconsin’s legislature has already said yes to direct primary care twice. Both times the bill died on one desk, and the person who sits there isn’t running again.

Gov. Tony Evers announced in July 2025 that he would not seek a third term. The two nominees to replace him, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, laid out their health platforms for the Cap Times on Oct. 15. Tiffany said he wants to prioritize consumer choice in picking a health plan, and the paper reports that for him “that means expanding direct primary care.” A photo caption in the same piece describes his platform as “deregulating direct primary care.”

Tiffany has been here before.

The bill Tiffany cosponsored

In February 2019, while Tiffany was a state senator, the Assembly introduced 2019 Assembly Bill 26, relating to direct primary care agreements. Tiffany is listed among its Senate cosponsors. It passed the Assembly 61-36 in January 2020 and the Senate concurred 20-13 that February.

Evers vetoed it on Feb. 28, 2020. The veto stood. In May 2020 the Assembly record lists the bill as failing to pass over the veto under Joint Rule 82, with no roll call.

The bill that came back

The idea returned as 2025 Senate Bill 4. It passed the Senate 18-14 on March 18, 2025, and the Assembly concurred on May 13.

The enrolled text is short. It defines a DPC agreement as a written contract for primary care at a subscription fee, and it adds valid agreements to the list of arrangements outside Wisconsin’s insurance code. It also requires each agreement to state plainly that it isn’t health insurance, and it bars practices from billing an insurer fee-for-service for anything the fee already covers.

On patients, SB 4 did say something. A practice could not refuse or end an agreement “solely because of the patient’s health status.” It could turn a patient away only for a full panel, or for needs beyond what the practice can provide. It could end an agreement only for listed reasons, such as unpaid fees or abuse of staff.

Evers vetoed it on Aug. 8, 2025. According to Husch Blackwell’s summary of his veto message, he said the Legislature had not provided enough protection for patients against discrimination and loss of access to care. He said he had raised the same concerns about an earlier version. The veto was sustained on May 13, 2026.

One amendment, one list

One alternative fits on a single page. On the day SB 4 passed the Senate, 14 senators offered Senate Amendment 1. It would have left the health-status clause in place and added a list next to it. No provider could decline, end or “otherwise discriminate against a patient” on the basis of race, color, citizenship status, national origin, religion, sex, disability, genetic information, a preexisting condition, age, sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Senate rejected it, 18-14. The bill passed that same day by the same count.

So the fight in Wisconsin has been over the terms of a carve-out. Without one, Husch Blackwell’s read after the veto was that DPC agreements “remain subject to existing insurance laws in Wisconsin, pending further legislative action.” Amendment 1 was one answer to whether a carve-out should also carry a list of protected classes. The Senate said no, and Evers later vetoed the bill citing discrimination protections.

What the other candidate said

The Cap Times piece doesn’t record a position from Crowley on direct primary care. His answer on insurance was to expand BadgerCare “as an alternative to for-profit insurance.” The same article notes critics’ view that many DPC memberships don’t cover specialized care, major medical events or hospital stays.

Tiffany paired DPC with a second proposal: letting the Wisconsin Farm Bureau offer health plans to its members. The Cap Times reports those plans can reject applicants or deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. That’s a different product with different rules, but voters will hear the two ideas together.

What To Watch

Nov. 3. The election decides who receives the next DPC agreement bill. If you might open a Wisconsin practice, the outcome tells you whether a third bill faces a signature or a third veto.

The anti-discrimination clause. Evers asked for more protection against discrimination. Watch whether a new bill keeps SB 4’s health-status language alone or adds a protected-class list like Amendment 1’s.

Who carries it. SB 4 was introduced by Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara. Sen. Chris Kapenga and Rep. Barbara Dittrich, both on SB 4, were also on the 2019 bill. A reintroduced bill with the same names likely signals the same text. Democratic names on the cosponsor line would signal a different deal.