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Two state agencies are partnering to help people access health care. Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm said the joint effort with the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance will reach out, to some 290,000 thousand uninsured Wisconsin adults. “Shift workers, direct care workers, child care workers. These are the folks that end up falling through the gaps when we as a team . . . are not focused on making sure that those folks are accessing the care that they are eligible for.”
Learn about how @GovEvers‘ #budget and #Medicaid expansion improves the health and well-being of all Wisconsinites: https://t.co/lpZe0w281U (2 of 2) pic.twitter.com/GcnYjvaihW
— WIDeptHealthServices (@DHSWI) June 3, 2019
The goal is to inform more people aware of their options with BadgerCare or through the private insurance marketplace. “A major piece of this initiative is the education, and making the options available of coverage,” said Insurance Commissioner Mark Afable
Palm and Afable announced the partnership in a Capitol press conference on Monday, with Governor Tony Evers. Evers said he’ll continue to advocate for Medicaid expansion in Wisconsin. “Seventy percent of the people in the state have indicated in the most recent poll that they favor Medicaid expansion. We’re going to continue to fight for that.”
The legislature’s budget panel has removed a provision from Evers’ budget proposal, to accept $1.6 billion in new federal funding for Medicaid expansion in Wisconsin. Joint Finance Committee co-chair John Nygren, opposed to accepting the money, has said that expanding Medicaid is the same as expanding welfare, and not the right path to increase access and affordability.