Gov. Evers offers Republicans sweetener to expand BadgerCare

(The Center Square) – Gov. Tony Evers is trying to entice Republicans legislative leaders to expand Medicaid in the state by offering them millions for their pet projects.

The governor on Wednesday signed an order for a special session on BadgerCare expansion. To try and get Republicans to take the session seriously, Evers also released a list of projects he says he can shift Medicaid savings into.

“We’re not only going to expand access to healthcare for tens of thousands of people across our state, we’re going to use that $1 billion we’d save and put it toward making sure our economy can bounce back,” Evers said in a statement.

The list of projects includes sending $151 to Wisconsin’s rainy day fund, dedicating $90 million to buy paper mills in Wisconsin Rapids and Park Falls, and finding $150,000 for firearm suicide prevention. Republican lawmakers have supported all of those ideas in the past.

But Republicans at the statehouse have refused for years to expand BadgerCare.

Gov. Evers claims by adding nearly 90,000 mostly young, able-bodied men, without children to the program, Wisconsin can save $1.6 billion.

Brett Healy, president at The MacIver Institute, last month told The Center Square that Evers and the Democrats in Madison are ignoring the costs of an expansion.

“With another 90,000 enrollees and the state still reimbursing health systems and doctors pennies on the dollar, there will be less appointments available to all in the program, which means less care and longer waiting times to get in to see your doctor or the nurse practitioner,” Healy said.

The top Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, did not respond to the governor’s special session call on Wednesday.

Evers’ order means lawmakers will meet next Tuesday to take up his call. But just what that will look like remains to be seen. The legislative leaders have quickly gaveled in and out of Evers’ previous special sessions without taking a single vote.

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