BadgerCare

Wisconsin Legislature Shows Budget Priorities by Voting Against Expanding Health Care, and For a Tax Cut for the Wealthy

by wbpadmin

May 13, 2021 — Last week the legislature’s budget committee removed a provision from the state budget that would have provided health insurance to almost 100,000 Wisconsin residents with low incomes, and would save the state more than a billion dollars in tax revenue over the next two years. On the same day, the committee preserved a tax cut that funnels millions of dollars into the pockets of a small group of the extremely wealthy who have rigged the system for their own benefit. This combination of actions demonstrates the legislature’s priorities so far in the budget process: making it more difficult for people with low incomes to meet their basic needs, while refusing to accept proposed changes that would require big corporations and the top 1% to pay their fair share.

BadgerCare Expansion Won’t Go Away – It’s Too Good a Deal

by wbpadmin

May 6, 2021 — Republican legislators would like to kill off the idea of expanding BadgerCare eligibility by removing it from the Wisconsin budget, but it won’t go away that easily. It will keep coming back because the case for expansion is so compelling.

Governor’s Proposed Budget for Health Care

by wbpadmin

March 18, 2021 — Governor Evers has proposed an ambitious budget for health care that increases access to care and coverage by expanding BadgerCare, increases funding for hospitals and other providers, invests in maternal and infant health and health equity, and provides more support for public health. It also increases access to dental services, makes health insurance more affordable, invests in caregiving and the caregiver workforce, and recommends rate increases for behavioral providers as well as a regional approach to crisis support.

Evers Proposes Investments in Public Assistance to Cushion the Health and Economic Crisis

by wbpadmin

April 9, 2020 — The COVID-19 pandemic is creating severe economic hardship for many Wisconsinites, and especially for those who were already furthest from opportunity. It has helped reveal the stark disparities in our nation, particularly for people of color, because it has amplified the disparities and has given them potentially fatal consequences. To help ease the disastrous health and economic consequences of the pandemic, Governor Evers has proposed a number of budget increases and policy changes in the state’s public assistance programs.

Wisconsin Rapidly Approaches Deadline to Qualify for a Large Increase in Medicaid Funding

by wbpadmin

April 6, 2020 — Wisconsin faces a deadline of April 16 to qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars from federal Medicaid funding. Almost all of the other states have already qualified for the funding, and they have typically done so by executive branch action, but a lame duck law has impeded that in Wisconsin.

Building Revenue for Shared Priorities

by wbpadmin

February 1, 2019 — For Wisconsin’s economy to work for everyone, our state needs to invest in healthy and well-educated workers and communities, public infrastructure, and working families.