Evers’s Budget Would Increase Health Care Funding by $208 Million in Dane County

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: May 2, 2019

Contact: Lisa Subeck, 608-266-7521 (office)

Evers’s Budget Would Increase Health Care Funding by $208 Million in Dane County

MADISON- Today, Representative Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) responded to new county-by-county data released by the Department of Health Services on the potential impact of expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, as Governor Evers’s budget proposes.

Statewide, Medicaid expansion would provide health insurance coverage to an additional 82,000 Wisconsinites, save state taxpayers $324 million over the biennium, and draw down an additional $1.6 billion to invest into new initiatives to improve health care access and quality.

“What a difference Medicaid expansion could make for Dane County residents!” said Rep. Subeck. “Governor Evers’s plan would expand quality health coverage, save taxpayers money, and help reduce inequalities in health care access. It is fiscally irresponsible and morally indefensible for legislative Republicans to continue standing in the way of this obvious win-win.”

Medicaid expansion would allow for the following investments in Dane County:

$41.7 million to expand Medicaid to an estimated 4,832 Dane County residents
$2.9 million to expand access to behavioral health, including crisis intervention and telehealth services
$3.8 million to prevent childhood lead poisoning through lead abatement and supporting children with lead poisoning through the Birth to 3 Program
$3.6 million to improve access to dental services by increasing payments to dental providers, including those who serve people with disabilities, and expanding the Seal-A-Smile program
$5.6 million to enhance Medicaid benefits and services, including support for the new community health benefit and postpartum coverage for new mothers
$3.9 million to increase funding for physicians
$41.2 million to increase hospital funding
$7.4 million to increase funding for providers in long-term care programs and services—including Family Care IRIS, and nursing homes—and boosting personal care worker wages
$6.6 million to reduce youth tobacco use
$54.8 million to continue providing coverage to current Medicaid, BadgerCare Plus, SeniorCare, and FoodShare Employment and Training program members, and permanently ending the waitlist to serve all eligible children in the Children’s Long-Term Support Waiver Program
$36.2 million to support DHS 24/7 direct care and treatment facilities
$464,000 to support the Mental Health Consultation program, conditional and supervised release, and the Dispatcher Assisted Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation program

“It is not too late for Republican legislators to put people ahead of politics and accept the federal investment in our Medicaid program. I stand with my Democratic colleagues in support of expanding quality, affordable health care coverage in Dane County and throughout Wisconsin,” said Rep. Subeck.