Kids Forward applauds Governor Tony Evers for proposing a budget that puts kids and families first and that seeks to address the challenges kids and families of color face. He offered bipartisan proposals to restore two thirds funding for K-12 education, increase mental health services in schools, reform the criminal and juvenile justice systems, give working and middle class families a tax cut, and increase access to quality, affordable health care by expanding Badger Care.

All but one of these priorities has support on both sides of aisle—expanding BadgerCare. For some reason Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature have decided expanding access to health care is a partisan issue. It isn’t. Red states like Arkansas, Idaho, and Kentucky have all expanded Medicaid. Wisconsin should too.

Due in large part to the Affordable Care Act, Wisconsin’s uninsured rates for both adults and children have decreased over the past decade, but there are still wide disparities between white residents and Black, Asian, Latinx, and Native American residents. For Latinx and Native American Wisconsinites, the uninsured rate is about four times the rate for white people. With Wisconsin home to some of the nation’s worst racial disparities, Governor Evers’ focus on reducing disparities that kids and families of color face is a welcome change because these issues have gone unaddressed for far too long.

We are thrilled that Governor Evers is committed to making good on his campaign promise to expand BadgerCare to 76,000 Wisconsinites and use those hundreds of millions of dollars in savings to invest in other critical services, such as education, transportation, and housing.

Many of the thousands of people who will have access to health insurance through BadgerCare work for companies that do not offer affordable health insurance or can’t afford private coverage on their own. Having BadgerCare will make it easier for them to see the doctor when they get sick, pay for prescriptions to keep them healthy, and protect them from bankruptcy in the event of a medical emergency.

Wisconsin is one of only 14 states that are not taking their fair share of federal funds to expand health care. Both bright red and deep blue states have prioritized their state’s health over politics and decided to expand Medicaid. It’s time Wisconsin follow their lead and expand BadgerCare.