On Wednesday, December 4, the Assembly met in special session to vote on Special Session Assembly Bill (SS AB) 1, Governor Walker's proposal to delay BadgerCare eligibility changes and extend Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan (HIRSP) coverage through March 31, 2014.

A memo by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau describes SS AB 1 and its background in great detail, but in a nutshell, the 2013-2015 state budget included provisions that assumed the federal healthcare exchange website, healthcare.gov, would be up and running in October.  In particular, the budget act changed eligibility requirements for the BadgerCare program and dissolved HIRSP altogether, effective the end of this year, with the expectation that current participants who would no longer be eligible for BadgerCare or covered by HIRSP would obtain coverage through the federal exchange.  However, when October rolled around, the exchange website was a disaster, and even subsequent tweaks have reportedly failed to make the exchange process as easy as had been promised.  The result is that many Wisconsin residents who are scheduled to lose their BadgerCare or HIRSP coverage may not be able to obtain coverage through the exchange and so may find themselves on New Year's Day with no health insurance at all.

SS AB 1 extends the current status quo for an additional three months.  Current BadgerCare eligibility requirements will remain in place until April 1, 2014, and HIRSP policies that were in effect as of December 1 will continue through March 31, 2014. 

The Assembly passed SS AB 1 on a 64-32 vote.  The 64 votes in favor included members from both parties.  The Senate is expected to vote on concurrence sometime before the holidays.

The Assembly Select Committee on Common Core Standards, of which I am a member, will be meeting on Thursday, December 12, to vote on its report.  The report itself should be available on Wednesday, December 11.

In the course of its four public hearings around the state, the committee collected a wealth of information and opinions, both for and against the Common Core Standards.  Much of this information is available on the website of Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, the committee's chairman.