Wisconsin Democrats Hold a Listening Session on Proposed Medicaid Expansion

By: Curtis Aderholdt 5/31/19 WAOW

STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Governor Tony Evers, State Representative Katrina Shankland and U.S. Representative Ron Kind led a listening session Friday morning. They hope to expand Medicaid in Wisconsin by accepting federal funding as part of Gov. Evers’ budget.

Dozens attended the event at UW-Stevens Point.

Democrats say the expansion would pull $1.6 billion dollars in federal funding and would result in $324.5 million in savings to taxpayers.

It would offer healthcare to an estimated 82,000 individuals in the state.

Earlier in May Republicans in the state finance committee voted to remove the Medicare expansion from the budget. Representative Shankland said the move was disappointing.

“That isn’t just irresponsible,” Shankland told attendees. “It’s fiscally reckless and it is not moral. It is immoral to take away money that would invest in healthcare in every community in the state.”

The Governor says a majority of Wisconsinites support the initiative.

“People of Wisconsin have spoken,” said Governor Evers. “There’s a reason I’m standing here as governor. We have someone from the federal level, someone from the state representatives standing here, talking about the exact same issues. Seventy percent of the people are not wrong. We’re not giving up on this issue.”