Walker/GOP negative health-care strategy: avoid federal aid by ... using federal aid!
http://www.uppitywis.org/blogarticle/walkergop-negative-health-care-strategy-avoid-federal-aid-using
ather than accept millions of dollars in federal funding to bolster Medicaid in our state, Gov. Scott Walker decided it's more important to continue opposing the health care reform act ("Obamacare" to Republicans). So, unlike surrounding midwestern states, he wants to turn down that federal aid claiming it'll be just temporary and there's no guarantee the feds will continue to provide the funding indefinitely -- which, by the way, was also his rationale for turning down nearly a billion dollars for high-speed passenger rail.
But lookee here: State Republican legislators, reviewing the governor's proposal, accepted pleas from hospitals that increased emergency room treatment for low-income people under the Walker plan would badly dent their finances. So the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) last week added tens of millions of dollars to Walker's budget to cover at least some of those higher costs. In making the numbers work, the JFC voted to accept millions of dollars of ... temporary federal funding!
So, assuming Walker doesn't veto that provision should as expected it passes the entire legislature, Wisconsin will have "avoided" the "risk" of accepting more temporary federal funds by (ahem!) accepting more temporary federal funds! And at a much higher cost to state taxpayers with lower coverage for low-income residents. Such a deal.
...
... the Governor’s plan is now expected to cost state taxpayers about $490 million GPR more during the period 2014 through fiscal year 2021, compared to the BadgerCare compromise offered by Democrats on the committee.
