Here & Now

Jon Richards Responds to Gov. Walker's Medicaid Decision

Zac Schultz:

Democrats think the governor has made a terrible mistake. We hear some of those concerns now from Representative Jon Richards, who joins us from Milwaukee. Representative Richards, thanks for being here.

Jon Richards:

Thanks for having me on, Zac.

Zac Schultz:

Governor Walker’s primary reason for rejecting the federal expansion of Medicaid is he’s not confident the federal government will be able to pay for that expansion in the future. Is that a valid concern?

Jon Richards:

No, I don’t think it is. Congressman Ron Kind, who sits on the house Ways and Means Committee, is very familiar with the budget in the federal government. He has said very clearly, the federal government has the money. The money’s in place. The governor needs to stop making excuses for saying no to this great deal that would benefit 175,000 Wisconsinites, take people off the waiting list and make sure they get the health care that they need.

Zac Schultz:

Well, the governor says this path is actually a compromise. He says, according to his numbers, under his plan the number of uninsured in Wisconsin will be around 7%, not quite the 6% if he’d taken the expansion, but if he’d done nothing and changed nothing, he said the uninsured would be around 10%. So is this better than nothing?

Jon Richards:

Well, I don’t know where the governor is getting his numbers from. What the governor's idea amounts to is basically taking people off of Badgercare and making them buy private insurance, and I don’t think that’s a good path for Wisconsin. It’s a real shame that we have federal money available that would cover 175,000 Wisconsinites, save us $66 million in this budget alone and create 10,000 jobs, and the governor said no to that deal. Now the legislature can say yes to it. We have a bill that’s circulating that I hope gets support from Democrats and Republicans, so that the legislature can come together and say yes to this great deal that’s been offered by the federal government, and that Democrats and Republicans around the nation have said is a good deal and they’ve taken it.

Zac Schultz:

Now, you have been able to get some Republican support in the past. We’ve already seen the assembly speaker say he supports the governor’s decision. So doesn’t that really just kill any bill, because he has the power to prevent anything from coming to the floor and passing it, and we know the governor will likely veto it.

Jon Richards:

Well, I'd hope that Democrats and Republicans would assert their independence, and look at the bill on the merits and look at the idea on the merits, and come together and do the right thing for Wisconsin, certainly for the budget and for the 175,000 people that we could help.

Zac Schultz:

Now, some opponents of this decision have made some statements saying this will result in more people slightly above the poverty line ending up with no insurance at all because they won’t be able to afford the co-pays and the premiums that come with it. And they say, as a result of being uninsured, people will die. Is that an overstatement to link deaths with this decision?

Jon Richards:

In some cases it does happen. We heard from a Dr. Hebner, who was a practitioner here in Wisconsin, who spoke about someone he knows who had Badgercare and lost it, and their asthma spun out of control and they died from an asthma complication. Sometimes people do die. But really what happens most of the time is that people aren’t able to keep their diabetes, their high blood pressure or their heart condition in check, and they end up having to go to the emergency room for something that could easily be treated. I think that’s something we should really address here. That’s the frustrating thing is, that we have money on the table that Wisconsin could take today to take care of those issues.

Zac Schultz:

Representative Richards, thanks for joining us from Milwaukee. Appreciate your time.

Jon Richards:

Great, thanks for having me on.