Medicaid is on chopping block - http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/83939/walker-wisconsin-public-employee-union-medicaid-cut - - The New Republic
It appears that Walker also wants to weaken the state’s Medicaid program, known as Badgercare.
And his proposed method for accomplishing this is eerily similar to his proposed method for emasculating the public employee unions. Rather than simply trying to reduce what the state government spends on Badgercare, Walker proposes to change the way the state government operates it, in a way that would allow him to change the program with virtually no legislative oversight.Under Walker’s proposal for Medicaid, his Secretary of Health could use “emergency” powers to redefine some of the program’s most basic parameters: Whom it enrolls, what premiums and co-payments in charges, etc. Normally, these sorts of decisions would require assent of the full legislature. But, according to Jon Peacock of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, under Walker’s proposal the Secretary of Health would need approval only from a joint legislative committee whose membership is heavily tilted towards the majority party. (The Center has more information about the proposal at its website.)
Because Medicaid is a federal-state partnership, federal guidelines do impose some limits on what Wisconsin could do. The state could not, for example, stop offering coverage to children. And in order for Walker’s change to take effect, I gather, the federal government would have to issue a waiver. Typically the feds issue waivers only when states show they can improve or bolster coverage, not when they are looking to weaken it.
But Walker’s budget effectively puts a gun to Washington’s head: If the state doesn’t get permission to change the program in the way he wants, under Walker’s proposal, it would simply reduce Medicaid to the bare minimum permissible under federal law.Why such little outcry over bill's impact on Medicaid programs? - The Cap Times
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/vital_signs/article_7e749b2a-3c97-11e0-94d7-001cc4c03286.htmlGov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill proposes sweeping changes to the state's Medicaid programs, changes that could affect many of the 1.2 million state residents enrolled in public health programs like BadgerCare, Family Care, and SeniorCare. The provisions would allow the administration to revamp and even gut the programs without following state laws or the normal legislative processes. But not many people seem to know or care, judging by the protests in the Capitol this week.
"Everybody who is controlling the message is only controlling it to be about the unions," says Molly Cisco, director of Grassroots Empowerment, an advocacy group for people with mental illnesses. "I have been screaming about this. I've been sending letters to the editor and calling the Democratic Party every hour. It's been so frustrating. I don't want us to be pitted against the unions, but they've been so loud we haven't been able to find our niche or get our voices heard."
And explaining exactly what this bill does to Medicaid is complicated, since the bill is not yet calling for actual cuts to the program, it is laying the groundwork to make such cuts easier for Walker and Health Secretary Smith, who as I reported last month advocated that states walk away entirely from Medicaid when he was a senior fellow at the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
"They're going after these programs in a backdoor way by changing the process," explains Lisa Lamkin of AARP. "The impact and the implications are almost worse because you can rally people around a cut. But when you try to get people jazzed up over changes in the rule-making process, their eyes glaze over. It's not an easy sound bite."Budget repair bill gives Walker free hand to revamp, cut Medicaid programs - The Cap Times
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/vital_signs/article_979fd798-385c-11e0-b233-001cc4c03286.html?sourcetrack=moreArticleBut Robert Kraig of Wisconsin Citizen Action, an advocacy group, claims Walker is using the budget crisis to strongarm legislators and the public.
"This whole notion that we're in an emergency so he must make massive changes quickly that affect people's lives is a very disturbing trend," he says. "We've seen it over and over now. Some reporters want to frame it as him getting things done and being effective, but the cost is that we get no serious public discussion. The legislative process is supposed to allow time for public input and discussion and understanding before such major decisions are made. This is fundamentally undemocratic."
http://www.savebadgercare.org/press.html - Save BadgerCare Coalition News Releases
http://www.wccf.org/pdf/budget_repair_statement_021411.pdf
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