UNDATED (WSAU-Wheeler News) About 150,000 low-income adults in Wisconsin might have to start paying premiums to keep their Badger-Care — and they might have to pay more if they smoke, or engage in other risky behaviors. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau uncovered those proposals when it analyzed Governor Scott Walker’s two-year, $68-billion budget package. It said the governor would need a federal Medicaid waiver to charge premiums for the first time to the lowest-income childless adults on Badger-Care Plus.
The proposal did not disclose the exact types of risky behavior that could trigger premium increases.
Jon Peacock of the Wisconsin Council on Children-and-Families says he wonders if a single person making less than $11,800 a year could pay any premiums. He tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the Obama administration would probably not approve Walker’s waiver request. Peacock said a few states like Iowa and Indiana charge premiums for their Medicaid coverage — but if they didn’t pay, the poorest people still got at least some care.
Claire Yunker of the state Health Services agency says the details for the waiver request are still being prepared — and it would be premature to comment further.
