Some Democratic lawmakers renewed a push for Medicaid expansion Monday in Wisconsin in the wake of financial concerns and public support for the move.
Sen. Jennifer Schilling, D-La Crosse, called for Republican action on Medicaid expansion, citing the fact that 70 percent of Wisconsinites would support the move.
“Republicans should do their jobs and act on stand-alone legislation introduced by Democrats that would allow us to join the 37 other states that have expanded their programs,” Schilling said in a statement.
Medicaid expansion was a key provision in the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, calling for broader eligibility based on income. But some states — including Wisconsin — chose not to do so.
The states that expanded Medicaid saw increases in insurance coverage, especially among lower-income individuals. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported taking Medicaid expansion in 2014 would have saved the state $1.1 billion through 2019, potentially funding other policy areas, such as education.
Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse, also supported the Medicaid expansion, saying the additional money could help tackle other issues.
"Those are our Wisconsin taxpayer dollars that are sitting in the federal government or going through other states, and that money could really be used in our fight against our crisis with opioids, heroin, and methamphetamine in Wisconsin," Billings said.
The biennial budget passed by the legislature did not include Medicaid expansion, which could have reduced BadgerCare and Medicaid spending by $339 million.
Medicaid expansion is a recurring debate in the legislature. In August, Democrats tried to introduce a bill to expand Medicaid. However, Republican lawmakers preferred to subsidize private insurance plans through the ACA.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has been outspoken of his opposition to the expansion.
“What Evers isn’t telling you is that roughly half of the 82,000 people who they want to push on welfare already have insurance on the exchange. The premiums on the exchange can be as low as 18 cents per month,” Vos said in May. “Instead of expanding Medicaid, we should focus on increasing opportunities to connect uninsured individuals to coverage they already can get.”
Sen. Schilling was more focused on the money lost by the state not expanding the program, costing taxpayers money thanks to Republican “political games.”
“In this budget cycle alone, accepting the Medicaid funding would’ve saved $324.5 million in state taxpayer money, and brought in over $1.6 billion in additional federal dollars for health care services,” Schilling said.
Without expansion, Wisconsin taxpayers will pay more than $2 billion over the next two years in federal income taxes for other states — like Illinois and New Jersey — to expand their Medicaid programs, according to the Department of Revenue.
Other states are also reviving Medicaid expansion debates. In Kansas, Republican Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning began working with the state’s Democratic governor to support Medicaid expansion, despite previous opposition.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has also called for the legislature to again take up the issue.
While signing the HOPE bills related to opioid addiction and recovery in La Crosse, Evers called for the legislature to refocus on Medicaid expansion on March 3.
“We need to make sure that we're accessing all the funds we possibly can and one of those ways to do that is to take Medicaid expansion in the state of Wisconsin,” Evers said. “Republicans have been absolutely opposed to it, and frankly what bothers me going forward, is that we have a group of leaders who won't let important things like this go to a vote.”
Hope Karnopp is the news manager and dabbles in music reviews at The Daily Cardinal. She previously hosted the Cardinal Call for WORT-FM and edited state news.
