We have seen in Wisconsin this week two youth sentenced to very long prison sentences - albeit not life without parole - that raises the question of what constitutes effective justice in these tragic situations. Does a 30-40 year sentence really meet the spirit of the Supreme Court's intent? Should the opportunity for parole come...
Revised Waiver Makes One Improvement, but Contains Harmful Changes to Transitional MedicaidOn Friday, August 9, the Department of Health Services (DHS) submitted a request to the Obama Administration for a waiver to implement the changes to BadgerCare prescribed by the recently enacted budget bill. The DHS request, which is amended only...
One of the most disappointing things about Wisconsin’s 2013-15 budget bill is that it shifts state resources from low-income Wisconsinites to the those who are very well off. As I said about a month ago in a long Q and A format interview in the Capital Times, the bill employs a “Robin Hood in reverse” strategy for allocating resources....
Initial OIC Release Lacks Info on Rates and Coverage AreasWisconsin got some good news relating to health care reform today when the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) released a list of insurance companies that plan to participate in the new insurance Marketplace created by the federal health care reform law. A broad field of...
National Poll: The First Five Years Fund released poll results showing strong support for early learning. Conducted by the bipartisan research team of Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research, the national telephone survey of 800 registered voters found that 70 percent of Americans favored providing all low- and moderate-income...
Milwaukee is among the big cities with the least income mobility, according to a new study that calculates the likelihood that a child born into poverty will successfully climb to a higher rung of the income ladder.Among the 50 biggest cities, Milwaukee ranks 41st in terms of income mobility, meaning that only 9 big cities had fewer...
County Board Resistance Shortchanges More than 1,200 Adults Losing Their BadgerCare CoverageThe Barron County Board was unable to muster enough votes last week to accept funding for two new positions to help people sign up for coverage under the health care reform law. It appears to be the only county to balk at accepting the state and...
Ruling May Set Important Precedent, but Appears to Be Too Late to Affect BadgerCarePeople on the BadgerCare Plus Core waiting list won a preliminary legal victory last week when a federal court allowed their lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to proceed. The ruling could be an important precedent, but it’s...
One of the successes of the federal health care reform law is highlighted by new survey data released on Friday (July 19). The new Gallup data indicates a decline of almost one fifth over the last several years in the number of young adults who are uninsured, thanks to the provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowing young adults...
How much money does a family need to be economically secure in Appleton, Wisconsin? How about Eau Claire? Janesville? These questions can be answered by a new family budget calculator, developed by the Economic Policy Institute. The family budget estimated by EPI includes expenses for:housing;food;child care;transportation;health...
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