Ensure Health
No matter where we live or what we look like, we all deserve to live safe and healthy lives. However, over decades, Wisconsin lawmakers have chosen the wealthy few over our communities. This has resulted in unprecedented disparities in education, income, housing and more—the social determinants of our communities’ health. And, some lawmakers have chosen to play politics instead of providing the health care that our communities desperately need. When we work together and address the root causes of health inequities, we give everyone the opportunity to live happier, healthier lives.
With partners at the Noble Community Health Center’s Children’s Health Day, August 2024, in Wautoma.
Badgercare vs Medicaid
Medicaid provides health insurance for more than one million people in Wisconsin. BadgerCare, one of several Medicaid programs, is health insurance for kids, parents, and adults with low incomes who typically don’t have access to coverage through their job. Medicaid also offers long term care for people with disabilities and older adults who need support to stay independent in their communities.
Learn more about Medicaid vs BadgerCare here.
Advocating for Health Care Coverage for All Wisconsin Residents
Physical and mental health care is a human right and access to care is essential for a just society. No matter someone’s race, how much money they make, or where they were born we all deserve comprehensive, affordable, quality health care. We are working for that future, but we know we have a long way to go.
Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act provides health care for one in four people living in Wisconsin. Through community and partner informed research, data-analysis, advocacy, and education we work to strengthen, protect, and improve Medicaid and access to affordable health coverage and care.
We team up with providers, patients, workers, advocates, and other stakeholders to push for policies such as extending postpartum Medicaid coverage, fully expanding Medicaid, and making it easier for people to get the care they need Medicaid and insurance providers covering care provided by doulas, community health workers, and other trusted sources of care close to communities.
Sharing personal stories that we can bring to the state capital is one of the most powerful ways to join the fight for a just healthcare system.
Congress Shouldn’t Put Tax Cuts for the Rich Ahead of Health Care for Kids
Funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expired nearly three months ago, and Congress still has not passed legislation renewing the program. CHIP supports health care for nearly 9 million kids throughout the country and more than 100,000 in...
Just Five Days Left to Enroll in Health Coverage for 2018
Friday December 15 is the last day that people can sign up for health insurance for 2018 under the Affordable Care Act. After the 15th there will not be another opportunity to enroll in health insurance for 2018 unless you have had a significant event in your life,...
Evaluating Wisconsin’s 4-year BadgerCare Experiment
The Partial Expansion Costs More and Accomplishes Less than a Full Medicaid Expansion
Healthy Food & Active Kids
Nourishing food and safe, inviting physical activity are a basic need for every child in Wisconsin. But, some lawmakers choose to line the pocketbooks of Wisconsin’s wealthy few instead of reinvesting our tax dollars back into our communities. Both Wisconsin’s urban and rural communities are too often in food deserts where healthy food is expensive and hard to access. Many communities and neighborhoods don’t have safe, inviting playgrounds and outdoor spaces. Mental health is suffering.
Kids Forward helps lead two statewide coalitions that work to improve nutrition security and physical activity, as well as opportunities for outdoor learning and play. Learning where our food comes from: gardening and cooking are essential as we “Grow Healthy Kids”.
Together we have developed resources and trainings, provided financial support, and partnered with state agencies and local organizations to get kids outside and eating locally grown food.
Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub
We have partnered with the USDA and Illinois Public Health Institute to launch the Lake Michigan School Food Systems Innovation Hub. We’re funding collaborations with farmers, food suppliers, food service directors, community-based program leaders and more to strengthen the K-12 food supply chain.
Healthy Early
A statewide, cross-sector partnership, Healthy Early is working to create equitable opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity for Wisconsin kids and families. Kids Forward currently serves as a convener for the coalition.
To learn more, contact Daithi Wolfe.
Healthy Early leaders at their first in-person retreat in April 2024.
Improving Language Access in Wisconsin
In 2024, Kids Forward and the Multicultural Coalition launched our Language Access Awareness Campaign. This partnership grew out of a need to address language barriers not only at the direct service level, but also at the systems and policy level. To ensure families can access services and meet their basic needs, communities must work collectively to provide meaningful language access services up front, not just translations by request.
Wisconsin currently does not have a statewide language access plan, although some counties and state agencies have prepared their own. Now is the time for local and state governments to get proactive about creating robust language plans and ensuring that all families, regardless of language, can access the critical resources they need. Contact your legislators and Governor Tony Evers to ask them to support the implementation of a statewide language access plan.
To learn more, contact Amanda Martinez.
With the Multicultural Coalition Inc, in October 2024 we brought together advocates and service providers in the Fox Valley to share challenges and solutions around language access.
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Research & Publications
Wisconsin Legislators Fail to Invest Any New State Funds in Early Education
The governor’s budget included a number of significant changes in early education policy and financing that would have improved the well-being of our young children, reduced racial disparities, helped parents participate in the workforce, and boosted Wisconsin’s...
DHS Substantially Reduces Medicaid Spending Estimate
The latest quarterly report from the Department of Health Services (DHS) has some very good news on Wisconsin’s Medicaid budget. The report released yesterday projects that the state share of Medicaid spending will be $72.6 million less than previously expected over...
Good Budget News Relating to BadgerCare and Medicaid
There was some good news this week from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) relating to Medicaid and the potential expansion of BadgerCare. That news came on Tuesday when Senators John Erpenbach and Jennifer Shilling both released a Fiscal Bureau memo that...
Log Back into Your Healthcare.gov Account Today!
December 15, 2015 is the deadline to log back on to healthcare.gov before the automatic renewal process commences. If an eligible consumer has not taken action by December 15th in terms of their current health plan purchased through the federal insurance marketplace,...
Giving Thanks for Food on the Table and Federal Nutrition Assistance
Thanksgiving is the time when we celebrate food and the pleasure of sharing it with family and friends. That makes it a very appropriate time to appreciate that the federal food stamp program provides well targeted assistance to millions of Americans who lack the...
26 Years Later, and the U.S. Still Has Not Ratified the Convention on the Rights of Children
On this date in 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). As Oma Vic McMurray points out in a letter in the Capital Times today, the U.S. played a large role in drafting the provisions of the convention. Yet 26...
New Rule Directs States to Ensure Access to Medicaid Services
The federal Medicaid agency took a significant step last week toward improving access to health services for Medicaid participants. On October 29, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a long-awaited rule that directs states to ensure compliance...
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