Did you know that in Wisconsin there are an estimated 55,000 young adults, age 20-24, who are neither employed nor enrolled in school? These “disconnected youth” are part of 6.5 million US teens and young adults who are not finding their way into the workforce in ways that we once took for granted. Today, the Annie C. Casey Foundation...
Committee Unanimously Endorses Expansion to 138 Percent of Poverty Level Wisconsin lawmakers will decide in the next budget whether Wisconsin will begin in 2014 to take advantage of the option in the Affordable Care Act allowing the state to close the gap in BadgerCare for low-income adults who aren’t caretakers of children. Over the...
The number of people relying on food stamps has jumped in Wisconsin, thanks to the recession and a stubbornly high unemployment rate. In 2011, one out of every seven Wisconsin residents received food stamps, or FoodShare. That's a big increase from 2005, when one out of every 15 residents received food stamps. Children make up just...
Governor Walker’s decision last Friday to defer to the federal government on developing and running a health insurance exchange in Wisconsin didn’t surprise me, but his reasoning did. The reasons he cited may sound persuasive to the general public, but at least a couple of his chief arguments are questionable, at best. A good Capital...
With Deadline Extended, about 10 Governors are Still Considering the OptionsAs you have no doubt heard, Governor Walker sent a letter to Secretary Sebelius on Friday declaring that Wisconsin will not develop and operate a health insurance exchange, which means that the federal government will take on that responsibility in our state. As...
After Falling Sharply for Several Months, BadgerCare Participation Recovers Slightly BadgerCare enrollment grew a little in October, after falling sharply during the first three months of the changes the state began implementing in July. As we reported in a blog post last month, from July through September enrollment fell by more than...
Today, the Republican Governors Association Public Policy Committee sent a letter to President Obama regarding the deadline this Friday for states to declare their intention with respect to who will design and implement the new health insurance marketplaces, known as exchanges. The GOP governors ask for an extension until the...
Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF) has just released a new publication, YoungStar in Wisconsin: An Analysis of Data as of July 2012. This report is the third in a series of progress reports since the YoungStar quality rating and improvement system was launched in 2011. Key findings include: Nearly half of low-income...
Tea Party Activists Are at Odds with Business Community and Health Care Stakeholders As we discussed in a blog post Friday, states have until the end of this week to notify federal officials whether the state plans to move forward with a state-based health insurance exchange, a federally-facilitated exchange, or a state-federal...
Walker Sends Mixed Signals about Wisconsin Implementation With a deadline just a week away for states to submit plans for a key part of health care reform implementation, Secretary Sebelius informed Governors today that the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) is giving states some more time to develop their plans for the new health...
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