Joint Finance Committee Meeting Also Expected Next Week on the DHS Halloween Package

Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) announced this week that she will host a public hearing to invite comments on Governor Walker’s proposed cuts to the Medicaid and BadgerCare programs. The hearing will be next Friday, November 11, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

The Eau Claire hearing is part of a series of events being hosted by Democrats in response to the Department of Health Services’ plans to make $554 million in cuts to the state’s health care programs for eligible seniors, children, families and people with disabilities. The Nov. 11 hearing will be hosted by Representatives Chris Danou and Mark Radcliffe, as well as Sen. Kathleen Vinehout.

Also this coming week (perhaps on Thursday, Nov. 10) we expect the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee to meet and review portions of the DHS plans that conflict with state laws, but we don’t expect that meeting to be a hearing with public testimony (though it will definitely be open for the public to observe).

The “budget repair” allows DHS to make sweeping changes that supersede state statutes, subject only to the review of the Joint Finance Committee. Late on Monday, Halloween eve, DHS formally submitted its plans that require JFC review. On Tuesday morning, WCCF issued a press release with our reaction to the department’s 238-pages of Halloween-delivered documents.

For a summary of all of the department’s 39 different cost-cutting proposals unveiled on Sept. 30, see WCCF’s 6-page synopsis. On Friday we expect to post on our website a new WCCF analysis of what the latest DHS proposals will mean for health care access for Wisconsin children. Watch this new section of the WCCF website for that analysis and for subsequent updates by WCCF and the Save BadgerCare Coalition.

Under the provisions of the budget repair and budget bills, DHS is required to eliminate BadgerCare eligibility for 53,000 adults (those over 133% of the poverty level next July, if the state doesn’t get a federal waiver by the end of the year to make other changes that will have devastating effects for children and lower-income families.  It’s extremely unlikely that CMS can act on the DHS proposals that quickly, considering that DHS has made little or no effort yet to begin pitching their ideas to federal officials.  See the very interesting article in Wednesday’s Capital Times. 

There will be a brief presentation on the proposed cuts at the start of the Eau Claire hearing. The public is then encouraged to share comments and personal stories.