Winning the BadgerCare Fight

Making health care more secure and returning control to consumers

1

Before the Affordable Care

Act

Low income individuals had to go without guaranteed

access to affordable health coverage

We must never go back!

BadgerCare for low income Wisconsinites

• The Affordable Care Act gives billions in federal dollars to WI to fill in the holes in BadgerCare.

• HOWEVER: The Supreme Court gave states the ability to reject this additional federal money.

• Governor Walker rejected the federal funds.

• Walker’s approach costs Wisconsin $149 million more in the current state budget and forces 77,000 off BadgerCare2.

• The good news is that because of the Affordable Care Act people forced off of BadgerCare will have access to the new health insurance marketplaces.

• The bad news is that it will be hard for very low income people to afford because the law assumed that this group would end up on BadgerCare.

• The additional good news is that Wisconsin can take the enhanced BadgerCare money at any time.

• This will happen, the only question is how long people have to go without health coverage.

Dates to Know

• March 15th is the deadline to sign up for private coverage or BadgerCare for it to start April 1st

• March 31st - ~83,000, mostly parents, will be kicked off of BadgerCare. They will have 60 days to access private coverage on Healthcare.gov

• After April 1st anyone who qualifies for BadgerCare under the poverty line can access it

Before You Assume This is A Partisan

Issue…

• New Jersey

• Arizona

• Florida

• Iowa

• Michigan

• Nevada

Conservative Governors of the following states who support accepting federal

funds•New Mexico•North Dakota•Ohio•Pennsylvania•Utah

Groups that Have Called for BadgerCare

Funds

• Government groups such as Wisconsin Counties Association

• Membership groups like AARP

• Advocacy groups such as Disability Rights Wisconsin

• Religious organizations like Wisconsin Catholic Conference

• Medical Systems led by Wisconsin Hospital Association

• Health Professions, especially Wisconsin Medical Society

• And over 250 more!

Oneida

Lincoln

Marathon

Dunn

Eau Claire

Clark

La Crosse

Richland

Door

Manitowoc

Outagamie

Winnebago

Iowa

RockJefferson

Dane

Milwaukee

Wood

Portage

Our Plan• Work to make this issue a priority in the November election.

• It is already popular (Over 57% support across party lines), and well covered. Newer polling supports this.

• It is already seen as a Yes/No question: “Will you support taking the money?”

• It’s local: Promote the financial and human impact on each county.

• If the pressure mounts, the state could take the money before the election, which is a victory for those who need the health coverage!

• Help us get the word out by sharing the petition, organizing events, etc. We can track who you recruit and have a local group form to promote BadgerCare. We can help you grow your group or start a new one.

• Help us reach out to organizations to encourage them to endorse accepting the federal funds for BadgerCare

• Explain that people are able to newly access BC, but people are also about to be kicked off at the end of March

• Prepare an action/event for the following dates…

• Leading up to March 15 (Deadline to sign up for BC to start April 1)

• March 31st/April1st – when thousands will be kicked off

What You Can Do

• Reach out to county supervisors in your area if they haven’t passed a resolution. See who might be interested.

• Email me to schedule a local conference call to update your friends and figure out a local strategy together

• Share our petition and more, we’ll help connect you to people close by who want to work on this.

• Email me to organize a local event in your area to educate people about this issue and remind them to enroll in health coverage while they still can!

• Join our Social Media Team – agree to share on Facebook/Twitter the most important new updates as they happen.

Ideas for Action

Questions?

• Kevin KaneLead OrganizerCitizen Action of Wisconsin414 550 8280 (cell)kevin.kane@citizenactionwi.org

facebook.com/CitizenActionWICitizenActionWI.org

More info:Healthcare.govKaiser Family Foundation – www.kff.org

$0Individual...$15,282Family of 4…$31,322

Would have had BadgerCare Will have ACA Tax Credits

$0

Will Have BadgerCare Will have ACA Tax CreditsMust buy more expensive private coverage

Individual…$11,490…………….$15,282

Family of 4.. $23,550……..……..$31,322

Remy’s Story“I own a small café. Over 20 years ago I beat cancer, but ever since then no insurance company would sell me a policy because my cancer is a preexisting condition. While being a cancer survivor no longer bars me from private coverage, it has left eligible for BadgerCare, and I’ve been denied from accessing it until April”

--Remy, Pepin, Wisconsin