Poll: Majority wants Scott Walker to address potential Obamacare crisis

A new poll shows that a majority of Wisconsinites want Gov. Scott Walker to expand Medicaid and to take action to prevent more than 184,000 people from losing health care subsidies, potentially making their health care unaffordable, if the U.S. Supreme Court eliminates subsidies in Wisconsin and 33 other states.

The survey of 1,071 registered voters, commissioned by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, showed that by a margin of by 31 percent — 58 to 27 percent — respondents thought Walker should accept a federally funded expansion of Medicaid, which Walker has rejected. And by a 20 percent margin — 53 to 33 percent — respondents felt that Walker should take action to prevent people from losing their health care if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that states that didn't set up their own Obamacare exchanges lose federal health care subsidies. The group put the margin of error at 3 percent.

The survey was conducted by Public Policy Polling, which frequently does polling for Democrats and liberal groups. While the poll asked respondents whether Walker should "take action to prevent Wisconsinites losing their health care coverage," it avoided the politically charged terms "Affordable Care Act" or "Obamacare" and didn't directly mention health care exchanges.

"It is clear that the Wisconsin public, by huge margins, supports major revisions to the state budget on health care issues,” said Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action. “The public wants Wisconsin to take all the money that is on the table to strengthen BadgerCare (the state's Medicaid program), and believes it is Gov. Walker’s responsibility to take action to safeguard the health coverage of the over 183,000 Wisconsinites at risk from a potentially dangerous U.S. Supreme Court decision.”

Of those responding, 34 percent were Democrats, 32 percent Republicans, and 34 percent independent or "other."

The latest figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human services show that 184,541 people who signed up for insurance on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) insurance exchange qualify for subsidies. Those subsidies are at risk in the Supreme Court ruling, which will determine whether Wisconsin and other states that opted for a federally run exchange instead of a state-run system qualify for federal subsidies.

The lowest earners in the Wisconsin exchange are among some 72,000 people earning between 100 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level that Walker kicked off BadgerCare in 2013 when he rejected federal Medicaid expansion funds.

Donna Friedsam, director of health policy at the UW Population Health Institute, said that if the subsidies end, it’s likely that a lot of people who receive subsidies will simply go uninsured.

“I’m not going to say what will happen to them,” Friedsam said. “But I can say that it’s very likely they won’t be able to afford insurance if they purchased it though the Affordable Care Act.”

A recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report puts the average health exchange premium in Wisconsin at $450, $319 of which is paid for with subsidies. That leaves consumers with an average monthly bill of $131.

The subsidies are available to people making up to four times the federal poverty level, or about $97,000 for a family of four.

“The subsidy decreases the premiums for people in Wisconsin by about 70 percent on average,” said Friedsam. “So people will face really substantial, triple or quadruple, the amount of what they’re currently paying.”

Wisconsin is one of 34 states that have not set up their own exchanges, using the federal healthcare.gov website instead. Some Republican governors, like Ohio's John Kasich, haven't counted out starting their own exchanges if the Supreme Court strikes down their state's subsidies.

But Walker has. His office confirmed last week that if a Supreme Court decision ends Obamacare subsidies in Wisconsin, the state will not set up its own exchange.

"While we continue to monitor the federal court case and the pending outcome later this year, ultimately, the responsibility rests with the federal government to fix this federal law," Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick told the National Journal.

As Walker emerges as a potential GOP frontrunner for the presidential nomination, some in the national press have pointed to his decision to remove low-earners from BadgerCare as a political liability.

"Of the Republican presidential contenders, no one has more at stake than Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker,” writes Bloomberg’s Joshua Green last week.

“If the court strikes down the subsidies and Congress doesn’t bail him out, Walker will find himself in an especially difficult position," Green writes. "He’ll have to come up with a way to help the roughly 185,000 Wisconsinites who will lose their subsidies. And in addition, he’ll be personally culpable for the 83,000 low-income transitioners who would not have been affected by a court decision had he left them on Medicaid, but would now lose their subsidies and probably their health insurance."

Friedsam put the number at closer to 72,000 (the 83,000 figure is based on an earlier estimate).

Citing the poll numbers Tuesday, state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, accused Walker of putting his presidential aspirations ahead of his responsibility to the state’s most needy residents.

"Gov. Walker is running for president, and he’s trying to be the most conservative of conservatives out there," Erpenbach said. "And as a result of that some 80,000 people in Wisconsin are being thrown under his presidential bus just so he can look really tough."

Erpenbach said Walker's decision makes it "pretty clear" that his priority is "basically to try to make the Affordable Care Act fail."

Bit by bit Walker is bringing Wisconsin back from the brink.

".... Even after billions in tax cuts under Walker, per capita state spending in Wisconsin is the highest of any state in the Midwest, including Illinois. In per capita terms, its state budget is twice as big as that of Texas.... National Review Jan 2015

Jan 2015: Walker budget to bar drug users from food stamps, Medicaid "Madison — With federal approval in doubt, Gov. Scott Walker is moving ahead with his campaign pledge to ensure that drug users aren't getting public health care, food stamp or jobless benefits.

As Walker explores a 2016 presidential bid, the proposal being included in the governor's Feb. 3 budget bill will help him sell himself to GOP primary voters as a leader committed to overhauling the core programs of government.

For the first time Thursday, Walker committed to drug testing recipients of BadgerCare Plus health coverage and also pledged free treatment and job training for those testing positive for drugs.

But the governor offered no details on how the state would cover the costs of that or the testing or whether he expected it to cost the state money overall, as a similar program did in Florida, or save tax dollars. The budget, he said in a statement, would also drop to four years from five the limit on how long a recipient could be in the Wisconsin Works, or W-2, program, the replacement in this state for traditional welfare.

"We know employers in Wisconsin have jobs available, but they don't have enough qualified employees to fill those positions," Walker said. "With this budget, we are addressing some of the barriers keeping people from achieving true freedom and prosperity and the independence that comes with having a good job and doing it well."

The governor said the drug-testing proposal would apply only to able-bodied adults, not the elderly or children, and would include transitional jobs initiatives. Walker wants to test all FoodShare and BadgerCare applicants but limit the drug testing for unemployment benefits to certain applicants.

The idea expands on another requirement passed by Walker and Republicans in 2013 to make able-bodied FoodShare recipients receive job training.".....

March 2015: Wisconsin tech schools might see an increase in performance-based funding "....This is not the first time Walker proposed an increase in performance-based funding for the 16 campuses. In the 2013-15 biennial budget, he attempted to increase performance-based funding for technical schools to 100 percent over six years, but the Joint Finance Committee put a cap at 30 percent. Walker then vetoed the cap before signing the final budget.

Gabriel said his organization supports performance-based funding to an extent. The colleges are for the most part performing at high standards and should be rewarded, Gabriel said.

He is concerned, however, with the magnitude of Walker’s proposal.".....

March 2015: Advocates: Walker's budget could hurt programs for disabled"...."....Claire Yunker, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health Services, said in a statement that Walker’s proposal is aimed at preventing fraud and abuse in the existing system and creating a more coordinated care regimen.

But Daniel Idzikowski, executive director of Disability Rights — a group that advocates for people with disabilities — said his organization was not consulted about Walker’s plan that the Legislature will debate over the next three months.

It would drastically restructure Family Care, which administers personal care and long-term care services to elderly, disabled and injured Wisconsinites through Medicaid, he said."....

March 2015: Scott Walker bid to end integration program [busing] has schools seeking answers "..."....[Scott Walker] has proposed eliminating the long-standing racial integration program, a move that could redirect $60 million in school funding and have a cultural and financial impact on Milwaukee, nearby suburban school systems and districts like Racine, Madison and Wausau...."

Dec 2010: High-speed rail funds scatter to other states "Wisconsin will keep only a fraction of the $810 million it won in federal high-speed rail money, while the rest will help fund train lines in California, Florida, Illinois and other states, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday.

Governor-elect Scott Walker had vowed to kill the planned 110-mph Milwaukee-to-Madison passenger train route that was to be funded with Wisconsin's share of $8 billion in federal stimulus dollars. Ohio Governor-elect John Kasich had issued a similar promise for a planned 79-mph line connecting his state's three largest cities, funded by $400 million in stimulus cash.

Now, almost all of the $1.2 billion from the two projects will be divided among other states. California is the big winner, with up to $624 million, followed by Florida, up to $342.3 million; Washington, up to $161.5 million; and Illinois, up to $42.3 million. Smaller amounts will go to New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Missouri, Oregon, North Carolina, Iowa and Indiana.....

In a meeting with reporters in Waukesha, Walker called the decision a "victory" because he sees the rail line as a symbol of excessive government spending.

"That's the decision they've made and we're going to move forward," the Republican governor-elect said.

Even with the federal government paying all construction costs, Walker has said he didn't want state taxpayers to bear any of the operating costs. ......."

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