Here & Now

On the Issues: Healthcare

Frederica Freyberg:

Health care has been at the political forefront for the past several years as well. Primarily in Wisconsin, the focus being on opioid addiction, the Affordable Care Act and the decision to decline Medicaid expansion money. We asked each candidate about their vision for health care in our state. Again, in alphabetical order, this is where the candidates stand on the issue of health care.

Here’s Governor Scott Walker on the issue.

Scott Walker:

We want to do more to ensure that we have– continue to have the top health care system in the nation when it comes to quality as well as access and cost. We want to particularly make sure that just as the nation is suffering a challenge when it comes to opioid and illegal drug abuse, that we’re the leading state in the nation when it comes to reducing the number of people who face that addiction.

Frederica Freyberg:

The republican challenger, Robert Meyer.

Robert Meyer:

Eleven actual republican governors all accepted the full expansion of Medicaid. That’s added up to a billion dollars. Coincidently we’re a billion dollars short on our investments in infrastructure and education.

Frederica Freyberg:

Democrat Tony Evers.

Tony Evers:

Take the Medicaid money. That money has been sitting in Washington D.C. for the last– for Scott Walker’s reign. We can change how health care is delivered in the state of Wisconsin by taking that Medicaid money. That’s absolutely important. We’ll do that and we’ll also set up exchanges. All those things that Scott Walker didn’t do has caused Minnesota to move forward and have cheaper and better health care than we do in Wisconsin. Our Wisconsin folks need to have that same opportunity.

Frederica Freyberg:

Here’s Matt Flynn.

Matt Flynn:

70% of the people in this country already get some sort of government-related– Medicaid, Medicare, military and so forth. But what I would do in the short run because I can’t mandate that even though Medicare is a real cost cutter, I would open up Badger Care in addition to getting the billion dollars back, open up Badger Care to anybody who doesn’t have health insurance who wants to buy into it for a premium unless they’re indigent.

Frederica Freyberg:

This is Mike McCabe.

Mike McCabe:

We need to correct the mistake that was made when Wisconsin turned down the federal Medicaid expansion money. We should take that money. People have paid taxes out to Washington. We should bring that money back to Wisconsin. That makes more than 80,000 more people eligible for Badger Care. We’ve got to correct another mistake when Wisconsin chose not to set up its own insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act. We need to set up our insurance exchange but then we need to make Badger Care a public option and put it on that exchange and let anybody choose it.

Frederica Freyberg:

Here’s Mahlon Mitchell.

Mahlon Mitchell:

As governor, I will fight for the federal dollars for the Medicaid expansion to make sure we put– that could insure about another 85,000 folks. But I want to make sure we have Badger Care for all. It’s going to cost money, right? And people say, “How are you going to pay for it?” Well again, if we can give $4.5 billion to Foxconn, we can make sure that every person in this state actually has adequate health insurance.

Frederica Freyberg:

This is Josh Pade.

Josh Pade:

If you look at Wisconsin compared to our neighboring state, we’re paying much more for premiums under the Affordable Care Act than they are and that’s because we’re not taking our hard-earning federal tax dollars and using that to make Medicaid affordable. Let’s bring it in. Let’s bring in innovation and understand ways in which we can bring down the cost of health care and expand access. Let’s also focus on a lot of the other problems that people have to get access to care like dental care and eye care.

Frederica Freyberg:

Next, Kelda Roys.

Kelda Roys:

I think that we should have a state exchange and make Badger Care a public option that anybody could buy into so you don’t have to necessarily buy private insurance. You have a public option which would be lower cost for everyone.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, Paul Soglin.

Paul Soglin:

We’ve got to undo so much of what Scott Walker has done in terms of rejecting federal programs. We have to recognize the importance of a robust Medicaid program, especially in light of nutrition challenges, behavioral health, substance abuse. Just now some politicians are catching on to the opioid crisis.

Frederica Freyberg:

This is Kathleen Vinehout.

Kathleen Vinehout:

We need to accept the Medicaid money. Use the money that’s freed up to invest in a system of mental health and addiction recovery all over the state. It’s one of the reasons that we have so many people incarcerated when you compare us to Minnesota. We need to create our own exchange, our own marketplace. Offer a public option like Badger Care on that marketplace and bring as many people as we can into health care.

Frederica Freyberg:

So once again, unanimity among the democratic candidates for accepting the expanded Medicaid money even with the governor’s republican challenger.

Shawn Johnson:

Yeah, if you want to sum up where the democrats are on this issue, say that first, because that’s what they say first. Take that federal Medicaid money that Wisconsin has not taken to expand Medicaid under Governor Walker. If you want to talk about what that would mean in terms of dollars for the state, if you look back, the state would have saved about $1.1 billion in state tax dollars if it had taken that federal money to expand Medicaid. Looking forward though, the number’s not quite so big. When you hear about candidates talking about doing that so you can pay for other stuff, you’re talking about roughly, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, $200 million per year. It’s not a small amount of money, substantial, but it’s not going to necessarily pay for everything.

Frederica Freyberg:

Well, because again, the candidates always talk about a $1 billion figure when they talk about expanded Medicaid. The other thing that the democratic candidates talk a lot about is wanting to make Badger Care a public option.

Shawn Johnson:

Yeah and that’s not an entirely new idea, but I think it has risen to the level of becoming kind of that party litmus test. If you are a democrat running for governor, where are you on this bill? You hear a lot of them say, “Let’s do it. Open up Badger Care as a public option,” the way you hear it talked about on Medicare debate– the national health care debate having a Medicare kind of public option.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now we know that Governor Scott Walker is opposed, has been opposed to the Affordable Care Act and he’s now working to shore up and stabilize premiums through a re-insurance program which was approved by the Trump Administration this week. Now the Democratic Party though about that says this, “This re-insurance program does nothing to help everyone else who is not participating in the health exchanges who will likely see double-digit premium increases due to the republican sabotage and instability in the market that they have created.” So I just don’t see two sides being further apart than these.

Shawn Johnson:

They’re not, no. When you talk about re-insurance that is money that’s going to insurance companies to stabilize the market. It’s not a direct payment to individuals. That’s a noteworthy point on this. That said, it is Governor Walker, somebody who opposes Obamacare, has in different ways, sought to undermine it. In this instance he’s saying, “It’s here and let’s do something to bring these premiums down.”

Frederica Freyberg:

Let’s try to stabilize it.