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.
Expiring Programs Could Damage Health Care System and State Budget
Congress failed last week to extend funding for several important health care programs that enjoy broad public support. By not acting on the following three programs, Republican leaders have put the future of these politically popular health programs in limbo, and ongoing inaction could pose a significant problem for the recently enacted state budget.
Senate Republicans Must Choose between a Bipartisan Path Forward or Continuing Unpopular Repeal and Replace Efforts
The Senate has only a few working days to decide what it is going to prioritize. It can focus on renewing the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and stabilizing individual health insurance markets to protect people from rising premiums --both of which are...
Trump Continues Sabotaging the Most Centrist Part of the ACA
Since Congress failed to pass a bill repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Republican lawmakers have been in a quandary. Because they have been predicting for so long that the ACA was going to fail, some Republicans seemed to be determined to make that happen. However, others realize that the part of the law they can sabotage – the subsidized marketplace for private insurance – is critically important for millions of Americans and also a centrist approach for increasing access to health care.
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 Lawmakers Directed Far More Resources to an Income Tax Cut than Other Critical Priorities
The huge tax cut that Wisconsin lawmakers passed in the state budget far outstrips the minimal investments they made in critical priorities like education, health, and workforce development. The size of the tax cut will make it harder for schools, communities, and...
Very Good News this Week on Access to Insurance
Three different documents released this week – using different data sources – shed light on the dramatic improvements in access to health insurance that have occurred under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including continued improvements in the first half of 2015. Here...
Research Documents Long-Term Benefits of Medicaid for Kids
Medicaid’s 50th anniversary marks a major milestone in our progress as a nation in providing all of our children access to the health care they need to help them stay healthy. The growth in the program has also spurred more research on its benefits over time, and the...
Supreme Court Ruling is a Victory for Wisconsinites
As you have no doubt heard by now, the Supreme Court issued a health care reform ruling this morning that confirms what we have known all along – that the law was designed to provide a tax credit to any American who qualifies, regardless of the type of insurance...
Decision in 2013 to Cut BadgerCare Eligibility Increases Importance of Supreme Court Case
Over 180,000 Wisconsinites at Risk of Losing their Marketplace Insurance Coverage Two years ago, Governor Walker and GOP legislators decided to cut in half the income limit for parents’ eligibility for BadgerCare – reducing it from 200% of the federal poverty level...
Over 180,000 Wisconsinites at Risk of Losing Health Coverage in King v Burwell
A new report examines the potential impact of the impending U.S. Supreme Court ruling on King vs Burwell, a ruling that will determine whether people can continue to get federal tax credits for health care coverage purchased through the federal health insurance...
Top 10 Reasons to Take the Federal Funds to Improve BadgerCare
*Updated May 27, 2015* The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides funding for states to expand health insurance coverage for low-income adults who have income below 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL). Thus far, Wisconsin has not taken advantage of the increased...
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