FACT: Scott Walker’s special session to delay Medicaid benefits fell short of ensuring that the neediest people in Wisconsin have access to affordable healthcare, kicking 77,000 Wisconsinites, including 29,000 children, off their healthcare.
By refusing to expand Medicaid, Scott Walker is rejecting more than $4 billion in federal money over the next ten years for the program and sending Wisconsin’s tax dollars to other states.
The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates that by taking the federal funds to expand BadgerCare, Wisconsin could insure 85,000 more people for $110 million less than Scott Walker’s plan, and also create up to 10,000 new jobs.
A recent study shows that, over the next decade, states who reject Medicaid expansion will continue to leave taxpayers on the hook for billions in uncompensated care costs like emergency room visits by uninsured residents. According to ABC for Health, Wisconsin hospitals provide more than $1.2 billion in uncompensated care each year.
The study concludes that taxpayers in states like Wisconsin that refuse to expand their Medicaid programs will remain on the hook for federal taxes intended for covering costs in other states – without benefiting their own.
