Gov. Scott Walker
Governor Scott Walker is signaling he would consider having Wisconsin opt-out of limiting what insurance companies can charge people to cover pre-existing conditions.
Under the Affordable Care Act repeal passed by the U.S. House on Thursday, states would be able to seek a waiver to make the change, as long as they set up high-risk insurance pools to provide coverage to those who might otherwise have trouble getting insurance.
Asked about the issue Friday morning, Walker said that’s something he’d be willing to consider, depending on the conditions. “We’ve been very good at that before with HIRSP (High-risk Insurance Sharing Pool), we had a very effective program before…I think a lot of people were disappointed that Wisconsin was not allowed to have that under the Affordable Care Act,” he said.
Still, the governor cautioned that he expects the bill passed by the House GOP this week will see changes in the Senate. “There are going to be a number of changes and improvements, and so I’m going to wait to comment on what’s in the final package until it gets to the president’s desk,” he said.