Gov. Scott Walker decided to refuse a BadgerCare expansion under the federal health care law, promising to work on an alternative plan that would increase health coverage by lifting an enrollment cap on Medicaid programs for childless adults. His plan would also tighten income eligibility and move thousands into federal government-run health care exchanges where they can purchase their own private insurance. Walker says about 224,600 more people would gain coverage under his plan. The federal plan would provide insurance for about 252,700, or 28,100 more.
Democrats charged Walker with playing politics, saying the federal plan would have saved the state money, created jobs, and covered 175,000 more people. In that plan, the federal government would have covered the cost from 2014 through 2016, after which state taxpayers would have been responsible for 10% of the cost. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that Wisconsin would have saved about $66 million over three years, but new costs to the state, over four years, would have totaled about $133 million.
Federal money available to provide health care through 2020 was projected at $4.38 billion.
Walker, who wants to see fewer people relying on government programs and more who are able to choose their own plans, would like to increase state spending on Medicaid programs by $644 million in his next budget. The Department of Health Services claims the governor’s plan would reduce the number of adult Medicaid recipients in the state by about 5,000, but it would also require state taxpayers to put an additional $650 million into Medicaid over the next two years because of rising costs.
About 14 other Republican governors have rejected the federal plan thus far, while six have agreed to it.
