Democratic state legislators introduced measures Tuesday to strengthen BadgerCare, a state healthcare program, which prompted skepticism from Republicans who said the requested funding for the act may not be available.
BadgerCare is a state initiative designed to provide health care coverage to people who do not qualify for health care insurance through their jobs or cannot afford it on their own, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.
The Strengthen BadgerCare Act, spearheaded by state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, and state Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee, is designed to use federal funds to increase the number of childless adults earning less than 133% of the Federal Poverty Level who can qualify for coverage under BadgerCare, a change, the legislators said in a joint statement, Gov. Scott Walker has “refused” to pursue.
While some adults in the category are currently covered, a previous 2009 enrollment cap left 150,000 people without BadgerCare health insurance.
The act would be entirely federally funded for its first three years and 90 percent federally funded after that, according to the statement.
Richards said the bill aims to help people achieve a middle-class lifestyle.
“By strengthening BadgerCare we can provide more Wisconsinites another stepping stone to the middle-class dream,” Richards said in the statement. “This is about doing the right thing and the smart thing.”
State Rep. Sandy Pasch, D-Shorewood, said the act would help low-income citizens avoid economic troubles from potential health care costs.
“I know that access to affordable health care is critical to ensuring our citizens have a path toward economic stability, and this is exactly what the Strengthen BadgerCare Act does,” Pasch said.
But Cullen Werwie, Walker’s press secretary, backed the governor’s record on health care saying the governor increased taxpayer spending on Medicare by $1.2 billion in his last budget.
Werwie also said the federal funding Democrats say is available to finance the act may not be approved by the federal government, a fact Richards contested.
“Given current fiscal uncertainties, the federal funding contained the bill today remains in question,” Werwie said in an email.
If the federal funding is not approved and the proposal is passed through the state government, Wisconsin taxpayers would be responsible to cover spending under the act.
