Contact: Joe Zepecki
jz@jzcomms.com
202-445-1517

AD:  “Dr. Don Lee: Wisconsin’s health care system is ranked first in the nation for quality, but Obamacare premiums have skyrocketed by 36% this year and many families just can’t afford to pay for health care.”

FACT CHECK:  Actions taken by Congress and the Trump Administration — and supported by Governor Walker — have undermined the Affordable Care Act and Caused premiums to rise and more Wisconsinites to lose their insurance coverage.

  • Wisconsinites’ health care premiums are projected to increase by $1,461 this fall. According to new analysis from the Center for American Progress, Wisconsinites’ average annual individual-market health care premiums will increase by $1,461 in 2019 because of deliberate actions Congress and the Trump Administration have taken to undermine the Affordable Care Act.

  • In Wisconsin, premiums already increased by an average of $164 a month between 2017 and 2018 largely because of Trump’s sabotage. Largely as a result of Republican sabotage, insurance companies charged Wisconsinites $164 more in individual-market premiums each month in 2018 than in 2017.  Governor Walker’s own deputy insurance commissioner stated that premiums were rising because of Trump’s sabotage.

  • Since President Trump took office and Republicans started sabotaging health care, Wisconsin’s uninsured rate rose by 2.1 percentage points. Republican sabotage has cost Wisconsinites their health coverage. Between 2016 and 2017, the uninsured rate in Wisconsin increased from 6.2 percent to 8.3 percent. Before Republican sabotage, Wisconsin’s uninsured rate had decreased by 2.2 percent between 2013 and 2016 thanks to Affordable Care Act reforms.

  • Scott Walker supported Republican attempts to sabotage health care.  Scott Walker supported efforts to repeal the ACA that would have sent premiums skyrocketing and ripped health care away from millions of Americans. Walker also supported the Republican tax bill which the the Congressional Budget Office estimates will increase premiums by 10 percent annually and leave 13 million fewer people covered by 2027.

AD:  “Dr. Don Lee: Washington politicians keep promising to fix the problem, but it never happens. That’s why Governor Walker’s plan to keep premiums down is so important”

FACT CHECK:  The Trump Administration has been sabotaging the Affordable Care Act since its first day in office.

  • On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order designed to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Hours after being sworn in, President Trump signed an executive order instructing federal agencies to start dismantling the ACA. As a candidate and throughout his presidency, President Trump has again and again made his plan clear: “let Obamacare explode,” and do nothing to contain the damage.

  • President Trump has drastically cut public outreach programs that help Americans sign up for insurance. Almost immediately after being sworn in, President Trump halted advertising for open enrollment in what one former health care CEO describes as a “transparent effortto damage the stability of the health insurance marketplace.” Last August, the Trump Administration announced that it would cut ACA outreach advertising by 90 percent despite insurers commissioners’ warnings that doing so would dampen enrollment and drive premiums up.

  • The Trump Administration is encouraging short-term junk plans, which are exempt from important consumer protections. Against experts’ warnings, the Trump Administration is encouraging short-term junk plans that are not required to cover people with pre-existing conditions, or pay for basic services like maternity care and prescription drugs. These plans leave consumers at risk of owing hundreds of thousands of dollars for regular medical care, and they also drive costs up for people who buy comprehensive coverage.

  • Congressional Republicans and President Trump repealed the Affordable Care Act requirement for most people to have insurance. President Trump and Congressional Republicans ended the requirement that most people have health insurance, despite analysis from the Congressional Budget Office warning that this action will increase premiums by 10 percent annually and leave 13 million fewer people covered by 2027.

  • In October, the Trump Administration abruptly stopped cost-sharing reduction payments (CSRs), which helped lower income Americans to afford care. In interviews with ten insurance companies, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that ending these payments drove up premium increases in 2018 ranging from 10 to 20 percent.

AD:  “Scott Walker: Our bipartisan plan invests $200 million to help lower premiums for Wisconsin families because we can’t wait for Washington to get the job done.”

FACT CHECK:  Scott Walker has not gotten the job done for Wisconsin families.  His refusal to expand Medicaid has cost the state hundreds of millions and deprived tens of thousands of Wisconsinites of health care.

  • If Medicaid Were Expanded, More Than 175,000 Wisconsinites Would Gain Coverage And The State Would Save Over $100 Million Per Year.  According to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study, if Wisconsin were to fully expand Medicaid, more than 175,000 adults would be covered in BadgerCare, and that change would yield a net savings for state taxpayers of about $107 million per year.

  • Under Walker’s Tenure, More Than 62,000 Adults Lost BadgerCare Coverage.   More than 62,000 adults lost their BadgerCare eligibility in 2014 when the state cut in half the income ceiling for parents, and a DHS study could only show that 58% of them obtained other insurance coverage (or regained BadgerCare coverage).

Expanding Medicaid Would Create More Than 10,000 Jobs For Wisconsinites.  A Families USA study found that expanding Medicaid would support more than 10,000 jobs across all sectors of Wisconsin’s economy. The increased federal funding and jobs created would have increased economic activity in the state by over $1 billion.

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