Lawmakers are poised to pass a budget this week which will cut the state’s health care program for low-income people. Governor Scott Walker’s decision to turn down millions in federal money to expand BadgerCare here in Wisconsin means thousands of state residents will be forced into the exchanges established under Obamacare, according to AARP.
“The federal government also funds the exchanges, and in fact it’s more expensive for the federal taxpayer to put a person on the exchanges than it is to put them on the MA program,” said Helen Marks Dicks with AARP in Wisconsin.
Dicks said that doesn’t bode well, despite assertions by the state Department of Health Services. “The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has indicated they think the department is being overly optimistic in the number of people who will actually end up with insurance under the governor’s plan.”
Dicks said the only certainty going forward is that 89,000 people will be forced off BadgerCare and will be uninsured unless they can quickly purchase insurance through the exchanges.
