Scott Walker Tool Kit: Fighting Talking Points with Facts - Healthcare
Scott Walker continues to mislead the public about his true record, releasing an ad that touts "investments" in health care that is meant to mask an abysmal health care record.
In requesting federal waivers to reduce coverage and remove people from BadgerCare, the Walker administration claimed a strucutural budget deficit. Yet Scott Walker claims in his campaign ads that he eliminated Wisconsin's budget deficit. Scott Walker can't have it both ways - either he eliminated the deficit and has no legal basis to kick people off of public health care, or his failed policies that cut taxes for out-of-state corporations and the super-rich mean he now has to balance Wisconsin's budget on the backs of working Wisconsin families.
Scott Walker Administration Cuts Health Care Funding By Nearly $250 Million
With his nearly $250 million in proposed cuts, Scott Walker has had an abysmal record on funding healthcare for everyone. Walker's budget proposed a $20 million cut to the successful SeniorCare program, which provides prescription drug assistance for thousands of low-income Wisconsin seniors, by raiding the program's surplus fund. The funding was only restored after legislative Republicans, in the face of overwhelming pressure from their constituents, broke ranks from Scott Walker.
Scott Walker's Cuts to BadgerCare Endanger Health Care for 17,000 Wisconsinites
Scott Walker’s influx of funds into public health care did not keep pace with the growth of the program. If Scott Walker adequately funded our public heath care programs, why are people getting cut from BadgerCare? If Scott Walker successfully grew our public health care, or at the very minimum sustained its growth, why are people getting kicked off of BadgerCare and having their premiums increased?
We are in an economic crisis of Scott Walker's creation - people are in need of assistance now more than ever.
Scott Walker’s health care czar, Dennis Smith, acknowledges that Wisconsin still had a shortfall of $82 million as of March.
The federal government did not allow the Walker administration to make their proposed cuts that would have impacted 64,000 people. However, the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families estimates 17,000 people will leave BadgerCare or be turned away under new rules.
Scott Walker Lets Wisconsin Down On Family Care
Scott Walker’s budget also cut funding and endangered health care for the elderly by freezing enrollment for Family Care, a cost-efficient state program designed to keep the elderly and disabled out of nursing homes. In late December Scott Walker called a press conference to tout an apparent change of heart, stating he would work to lift the Family Care enrollment cap. Walker failed to mention that the federal government, who denied his waiver and instructed Walker to lift the cap and immediately enroll those waiting for the Family Care program, forced his change of heart.
The Walker administration still has not brought FamilyCare into full compliance with federal guidelines, even as a May 14th deadline looms near. The conditions include notifying beneficiaries that the enrollment cap was lifted, identifying those that should have been receiving services, and informing everyone impacted by the cap of the possibility of reimbursement and developing a process for determining eligible reimbursements. If the Walker administration does not act, nearly $1 billion in federal funding for the program is at risk, and thousands of Wisconsinites could be affected.
