Small Businesses Could Buy Health Insurance for Nearly 10 Million People Through New Health Insurance ExchangesThere are a number of reasons why I think Wisconsin should resume planning for the possibility that the Supreme Court upholds the Constitutionality of the federal health care reform law (known as the Affordable Care Act or...
This week the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a new grant opportunity relating to reducing preterm births. The intent of the “Strong Start” initiative is to test maternity care options that improve birth outcomes for women with Medicaid coverage who are at risk of having a preterm birth. In light of the...
Early in December, we predicted that the Governor’s decision to halt the Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s (OCI) emergency rule implementing AB 210 was telling, to say the least, and raised questions as to whether the Governor planned to implement health reform provisions. Weeks later, the Governor indicated that he was halting all...
There has been increasing media attention paid to the separation of families due to immigration status. A recent ABC news special discusses the experience of one undocumented mother in Arizona who was accused of a misdemeanor charge, arrested and placed in a detention center, and separated from her children for 2 years before being able...
The Senate Committee on Health announced today that it will hold a public hearing this Thursday, Feb. 9, on SB 380, which removes the cap on enrollment in Family Care and other long-term care programs. The hearing is scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. in Room 201-SE in the Capitol. Note that there are also two other bills on the agenda,...
February 4 is the third anniversary of bipartisan legislation that strengthened the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the federal program that, in tandem with Medicaid, makes BadgerCare possible in Wisconsin. This anniversary provides a great opportunity to reflect on our progress in making sure kids have access to health...
Three Percent Increase May Help Some Families Qualify for Benefits Late last week the federal government released the 2012 Federal Poverty Income Guidelines, better known as the "federal poverty level" (FPL). Wisconsin uses the guidelines to determine eligibility for a number of public assistance programs, such as BadgerCare and child...
Low-wage Workers and Seniors Will Pay Millions More in Property Tax The 2012 poverty level was announced late last week, and the new income level for a family right at the federal poverty level (FPL) is now about 3 percent higher than it was in 2011, which reflects an increase in the cost of living. The change in the poverty level...
As tax time is approaching, and the next round of negotiations regarding the payroll tax cuts are gearing up, a bill to deny the Child Tax Credit for those filing with an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) is also moving in Congress. The bill, titled Refundable Child Tax Credit Eligibility Verification Reform Act, would...
A new memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) provides a detailed analysis of the status of Wisconsin’s Medicaid budget. A careful review of the memo reveals that the various cost-saving measures proposed by DHS far surpass the estimated budget gap if they are all approved and yield the savings DHS has projected. However, some of...
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