With the common sense policy of full Medicaid expansion in jeopardy once again, it is worth posing this clue:
“So determined to deny health care to tens of thousands of your friends, neighbors and families, this group is willing to squander $1.8 Billion of YOUR dollars in the next state budget alone.”
The answer: Who are the current Republican majorities in the Wisconsin Legislature?
The vast majority of Wisconsinites have common sense when it comes to their budget and care for their communities. In fact, polling has consistently showed strong support for full Medicaid expansion, often 70% or more.
Unfortunately, under the current gerrymandered majorities in the Legislature, your common sense as a taxpayer and common decency as a neighbor is being ignored by Republican leadership.
What will this mean? It’s once again right here in black and white. A(nother) new memo from the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) demonstrates clearly how Wisconsin taxpayers would see $1.8 billion in savings in the next budget alone by simply allowing tens of thousands of our neighbors to have access to health care.
How? Under the now longstanding Affordable Care Act, states that expanded eligibility for Medicaid currently receive a 90% federal reimbursement for the cost of the newly added population. Because Republicans in Wisconsin have consistently rejected opportunities to fully expand eligibility for Medicaid, Wisconsin currently only receives about a 60% federal reimbursement for these costs.
Under current Wisconsin law, two populations qualify for Medicaid if they earn up to 100% of the federal poverty level (~$15,000/year for a one person household or ~$26,000 for a family of three) – childless adults and parents. By making those groups eligible at a slightly higher level, 138% of the federal poverty level (~$21,000 or ~$35,000 for a family of three), Wisconsin would qualify for the 90% match for childless adults.
As the Fiscal Bureau memo outlines, Wisconsin would receive the higher federal matching rate by extending coverage, resulting in a reduction in state costs and ongoing savings that would exceed the cost of extending coverage.
That’s right, Wisconsin would save money by expanding Medicaid. Those savings alone would amount to $490 million in our upcoming budget. Coupled with a significant, one-time incentive of nearly $1.3 billion for adopting expansion, Wisconsin taxpayers would save nearly $1.8 billion.
And those savings would – and would have – added up. A separate LFB memo shows how much this Republican folly has cost Wisconsin taxpayers so far – that total is $2.7 Billion of your tax dollars squandered over 11 years they have refused to fully expand Medicaid.
By denying coverage to thousands of Wisconsinites who earn $6-$9 thousand more a year, the current Republican majorities would cost YOU and YOUR families another $1.8 billion in squandered savings.
It’s time for Wisconsin Republican politicians to stop denying the common sense and common decency of Wisconsin taxpayers, and it’s time for our state to join 40 other red, blue and purple states that benefit from Medicaid expansion.
