Baldwin Blasts Walker Gamesmanship on BadgerCare

Statement

Tammy Baldwin today issued the following statement on the Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) announcement that they are unable to make a determination by Gov. Scott Walker's imposed end-of-the-year deadline on Wisconsin's application for a Medicaid waiver for the state's highly successful BadgerCare program.

The Walker Administration has proposed significant changes to Wisconsin's BadgerCare eligibility standards, and gave the federal government less than one month to consider its waiver application -- a very short timetable considering the number of factors that need to be reviewed in considering a waiver.

Walker's waiver request would result in the elimination of coverage for an estimated 64,000 individuals, including approximately 29,000 children. Walker's Administration has threatened to end health care coverage for 53,000 Wisconsinites if the waiver is not approved.

Statement of Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin:

"Given the tens of thousands of Wisconsinites who look to the successful, popular BadgerCare program for health care coverage, and the complex process to grant a waiver to the rules and laws that makes BadgerCare possible, it's unreasonable for Gov. Walker to expect a decision in less than a month. This is a obviously a transparent ploy by the governor to shift the political blame for his choice to balance the state budget by booting tens of thousands of Wisconsinites off of health care. I urge Gov. Walker to rethink this decision, and find alternative solutions to Wisconsin's budget shortfall. Forcing thousands more uninsured families to go without health care or end up at the emergency room for costly care will not reduce health care spending, and is the wrong prescription for the state's budget woes."

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