The second week of early voting starts this week, and voters have until Friday, October, 31 to cast an early ballot for November elections.
Another week of early voting means another five reasons for voters to cast their ballots early and say no to another four years of Scott Walker failures.
Perhaps none of Walker’s decisions where as politically opportunistic – and equally harmful to the people of Wisconsin – as his decision to rejection millions of federal dollars meant to expand Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, BadgerCare.
Scott Walker’s decision to reject expanding Medicaid and kick over 60,000 Wisconsinites from BadgerCare was purely a political move. Walker priced individuals out of being able to receive crucial health insurance and left Wisconsin taxpayers on the hook for millions.
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Scott Walker kicked more than 60,000 people off of BadgerCare. 61% of those Wisconsinites were priced out of healthcare.
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Figures released by the Walker administration show more than 60%, or 38,000 people, did not buy federally-subsidized insurance through the federal exchange by the June deadline. [1]
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If Walker accepted the federal funds available for expansion 87,000 more of Wisconsin’s neediest citizens would have affordable, quality health insurance. [2]
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Wisconsin would gain real savings with the expansion that would offset costs, notably lower costs for unpaid hospital care. In addition, expanded BadgerCare would create desperately needed 11,200 jobs in Walker’s abysmal economy. [3]
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According to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state would have saved $206 million in 2013-2015 by accepting the Medicaid expansion. The state would save $261 – $315 million in 2015-2017 by accepting the full Medicaid expansion program. [4]
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Thanks to Scott Walker taxpayers were left on the hook for $30 million in the 2013-2015 budget which allocated funds to hospitals to augment increases in uncompensated care costs.
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Republican governors in other states have accepted the federal expansion, including Chris Christie in New Jersey, Jan Brewer in Arizona and Rick Snyder in Michigan. Unlike Walker, those Republican governors understood what expanding Medicaid would do for the people of their state.
BACKGROUND:
[1] “More than 60 percent of the people who lost state Medicaid coverage earlier this year did not purchase private insurance through the online marketplace, according to official data released Wednesday.” (Most who lost Medicaid didn’t go to insurance exchange, Associated Press, 7/17/14)
[2] “State Sen. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, requested the report. It said if Wisconsin expanded Medicaid coverage to levels suggested by the new federal health care law, 87,000 more people would be covered.” (New report: Medicaid expansion would save state $206M, WLUK-TV, 8/19/14)
[3] “For starters, the report says, 120,000 more Wisconsinites would have health insurance, 5,400 fewer would face catastrophic, out-of-pocket medical costs annually, and some 11,200 jobs would have been created in the state in the next three years.”
(White House: Walker Medicaid decision hurting Wisconsinites, Appleton Post-Crescent, 6/2/14)
[4] “The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said if Walker had accepted the money it would have saved the state $206 million.” (New report: Medicaid expansion would save state $206M, WLUK-TV, 8/19/14)
