MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – Wisconsin will keep saying no to federal Obamacare money to cover Medicaid patients.
The next two-year state budget, as proposed by Republican Governor Scott Walker, continues to reject millions in federal Medicaid funds to help the state cover low-income patients under programs like BadgerCare Plus.
Walker has said it would cost the state a fortune if federal money runs out someday for Obamacare — and states like Wisconsin are left holding the bag.
Instead, the governor cut off BadgerCare for childless adults over the poverty line — while granting the assistance to some of the lowest-income mothers and children for the first time.
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the governor has delayed a debt repayment in the current fiscal year, to help balance the current budget which ends on June 30th.
The paper cited a Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo noting that a $108 million repayment that’s due in May will be covered after the next budget takes effect — which is scheduled to be in July.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)