With health care developing as a central issue in the upcoming race for governor, Democratic candidate Tony Evers took shots at Gov. Scott Walker’s record on the subject in Madison on Monday.
Evers, alongside Kathleen Sebelius, the former secretary of Health and Human Services under President Barack Obama, spoke on rising drug costs, health care accessibility and continuing protection of coverage for people with pre-existing conditions under the Affordable Care Act.
Walker approved a lawsuit earlier this year to allow Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel to join several other states in suing the federal government over the enforcement of the ACA.
“The people of Wisconsin are rightfully worried that because Scott Walker put our state on the federal lawsuit to eliminate these protections, people will be denied coverage,” Evers said. “Walker has yet to reply to my request, backed by concerned Wisconsinites across the state, to drop this dangerous lawsuit. We should expect nothing less from a typical politician like Scott Walker.”
Walker and other state Republicans have floated ideas to provide similar protections outside the ACA framework.
“Covering pre-existing conditions is personal to me, plus it’s just the right thing to do,” Walker said in a video he tweeted Monday. “As long as I’m governor, I will always cover pre-existing conditions.”
Covering pre-existing conditions is personal to me. Plus, it’s the right thing to do: pic.twitter.com/WmbnFNoX2Z
— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) October 15, 2018
But experts and advocates have been skeptical of such legislation, arguing that the conservative alternatives have historically been much more expensive or hard to obtain for costlier patients.
Evers promised to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid, an offer available under the ACA which Walker has refused.
