An editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sunday urges federal officials to deny Wisconsin’s current request for a “maintenance of effort” waiver that would result in more than 64,000 people losing their BadgerCare coverage:
We urge the federal Department of Health and Human Services to hold off on that waiver until the state does more to ensure that fewer of the poor are affected.
The editorial discusses a number of specific parts of the plan, including one that would disqualify from BadgerCare many families who have offers of employer sponsored insurance:
The department estimates that nearly 28,000 people no longer would be eligible for BadgerCare Plus after enactment of this particular rule change, including more than 11,000 kids. The administration of Gov. Scott Walker argues that many of those families will find a way to cover their kids.
We think that’s a fantasy. It’s far more likely that families on the edge of poverty will forego insurance in order to pay the rent or put food on the table. And that means that some of them will end up using emergency room care – some of the most expensive medical care in the business – when they or their kids get sick.
The Smith plan may save taxpayers money now, but it’s built on an illusory foundation. Those same taxpayers will pay for the more expensive care of the poor through their health insurance premiums as providers shift the costs onto those who can pay.
We urge HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius to deny the state’s request for a waiver until the state amends its proposal so that fewer of the poor – especially kids – are affected.
To learn more about the DHS recommendations, see WCCF’s recent 3-page paper. In an easy to read table, it summarizes the substance and projected effects of the proposed changes that require an MOE waiver and compares those with the anticipated effects of the Walker Administration’s fallback plan if the waiver isn’t granted.
That fallback plan, which could end BadgerCare coverage for 53,000 adults with income over 133% of the federal poverty level, wouldn’t go into effect until July of next year. In the meantime, there’s plenty of time to heed the Journal Sentinel’s advice and “go back to the drawing board” to devise a better plan.
Jon
