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 care, and focus on what it will take to finish the job of extending health coverage to all children in the state.
In the three years since the reauthorization of CHIP, the nation has made dramatic gains in covering children. Thanks to BadgerCare and Medicaid, 469,000 Wisconsin children can get the preventive care they need to stay healthy, and see a doctor when they get sick or injured. Big improvements in streamlining the process of obtaining coverage have been made nationwide. In the past year alone, 25 states have reduced the amount of red tape in their CHIP and Medicaid programs. Here in Wisconsin, over 90,000 children have gained coverage in the past three years — progress worth celebrating, even as we recognize that there is more work to be done.Improving the BadgerCare enrollment process by eliminating enrollment barriers and streamlining renewals helped earn Wisconsin a performance bonus of $24.5 million for 2011. That money, along with new, smaller estimates of the state’s Medicaid funding shortfall, could allow the Department of Health Service (DHS) to avoid making the proposed changes to BadgerCare that would knock more than 29,000 kids out of the program. That’s the route WCCF urges DHS to take.
On top of the improvements to CHIP, the federal government has also come through with additional help in the form of the health reform law — known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The “maintenance of eligibility” requirement in ACA is designed to prevent states from limiting eligibility or tightening enrollment procedures.
In Wisconsin, this provision is what is holding up the state’s proposed changes to BadgerCare, which would result in more than 64,000 people losing their coverage, and about 104,000 others who remain in BadgerCare would be adversely affected, mostly through higher premiums. We need the federal government to remain strong, and not waive this ACA provision for Wisconsin.
Getting children the health coverage they need is a problem we can solve. We can start by using our performance bonus to protect BadgerCare from unnecessary changes that will leave more kids and adults uninsured. It’s important to recognize that health care is a sound, cost-effective investment even in times of tight budgets. Let’s celebrate this anniversary by making the commitment to continue building on BadgerCare’s success.
Bob Jacobson
