Gov. Scott Walker, with the approval of the Republican majority in the state Legislature, signed into law a $200 million measure to secure and stabilize the health insurance market under the Affordable Care Act.
The new law creates a reinsurance program to help lower premium costs for the nearly 200,000 Wisconsin citizens who purchase insurance under the law.
This bill comes in sharp contrast to Walker’s previous actions granting permission to Attorney General Brad Schimel to pursue a federal lawsuit with 19 other states to repeal the Obama-era healthcare policy.
Schimel, who is co-leading the lawsuit with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is arguing that the individual mandate, which requires healthy individuals to purchase insurance, is unconstitutional.
“Obamacare’s irrational design wreaks havoc on health insurance markets,” Schimel said in a recent statement.
According to Walker, the reinsurance bill is an example of the state stepping up when the federal government cannot.
“It’s pretty simple; Washington has failed,” the governor said in a statement at Tomah Memorial Hospital. “They had a year to try and fix this, it has failed, and so we’re going to fix it here in Wisconsin.”
Walker’s support for the bill came as a surprise to many, as he had strongly supported efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in the past.
After years of rejecting federal money provided under the 2010 health bill to expand Medicaid, critics argue that Walker is now feeling pressure to stabilize the healthcare market with the November gubernatorial election quickly approaching.
“Today Gov. Scott Walker is trumpeting his
Republicans in Congress have repeatedly denied the Democratic proposals to expand
