Here & Now

Kevin Moore On Drug Testing Budget Proposal

Frederica Freyberg:

In our budget watch segment tonight, a closer look at the provisions in the Governor’s Biennial Budget to drug test public aid recipients. Among those on the list, childless adults on BadgerCare Plus, the State’s Medicaid health insurance program, and those on FoodShare, more commonly known as Food Stamps. Both those programs are part of the State Department of Health Services, where Kevin Moore is Medicaid Director. He joins us now. Thanks for doing so.

Kevin Moore:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

So who are the recipients that would be tested?

Kevin Moore:

The Governor has outlined two populations that would get tested. One is the childless adult population in Medicaid. The second population would be able-bodied adults without dependents as part of the FoodShare Employment Training Program.

Frederica Freyberg:

Would these tests be across the board or would you have to have some suspicion of drug use?

Kevin Moore:

The way it’s drafted right now, we would have it as essentially an across-the-board either test or screen. We don’t have the definitions tied in yet because we want to have maximum flexibility as we work with our Federal partners on this. And then we want to ultimately get them tied into, if they do test positive, into treatment.

Frederica Freyberg:

So if it’s across the board, and it’s all these people in these two programs, how many people is that?

Kevin Moore:

So you’re taking a look right now on childless adults, we’re upwards of 145,000 individuals. And on the FoodShare program, the FoodShare Employment Training Program, we’re actually in the process, effective April 1, of going statewide with that program. That could be anywhere between

35,000 and 40,000 individuals.

Frederica Freyberg:

How much is this going to cost to perform drug tests on all of these people?

Kevin Moore:

Well, what we want to be able to do– in the Governor’s budget he’s recognized that there’s a lot of steps in this process. We need to apply to first and foremost apply to the Federal Government for waivers.

And then, also, we have to negotiate with the Federal Government on those. The Governor has really outlined and– we believe both the Federal Government and us are both partners in trying to get people back to work, which is the ultimate goal here.

Frederica Freyberg:

How much is this going to cost?

Kevin Moore:

Until we actually have the program designed, we believe – we don’t have a dollar amount outlined at this point. The Legislature and the Governor at this point in the budget have outlined that we have to submit that. But the waiver process is a very long process and so as we continue to negotiate with them on trying to find ways of getting people the screening and then ultimately get them into the treatment that they need so they can get into the work force, that’s going to be a key component moving forward.

Frederica Freyberg:

Suffice to say this is going to be millions of dollars, potentially tens of millions of dollars to do this. If so, why is that worth it?

Kevin Moore:

I think that, again, at this point, I think it’s premature to say how much the cost is because that’s really going to be contingent on how we build the program and how our Federal partners work with us, but I think, at the end of the day, whether it’s the State or whether it’s the Federal Government, we’re trying to build a better work force. That’s really what the Governor’s focus is on this program, getting people so that if they are testing positive, get them the treatment that they need. It’s not designed to be punitive. It’s designed to get them into treatment. And if you look at the Governor’s budget, not only this budget, but in his past budget, his investment in mental health and substance abuse treatment really builds the infrastructure to get the people out of substance abuse dependency and into the work force.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is it also, though, designed to kind of shed people who might be drug dependent from the rolls?

Kevin Moore:

Well, because of the fact that we’re not looking at a punitive structure, we want to find out how, as people test positive, how to get them into treatment. I mean, that’s ultimately where we want to go.

We want to get people the skills that they need and we want to get them off of their substance abuse — off of the substances that they’re abusing so that the worker skills that we’re offering, whether it be through FoodShare or other programs, that they’re able to actually get jobs. That’s really what the Governor is pushing for. And we’re using this as a tool so I would say it’s more about getting people the treatment that they need so that then they can move into the work force.

Frederica Freyberg:

Well, do you have a sense that a lot of these recipients are using drugs?

Kevin Moore:

I think at this stage in the game it’s, again, premature for us to take a look at. I know when the Governor has– has gone– when he was going around the state, he’s mentioned there’s a number of businesses that have complained that they’ve got job openings ready to go, but they need to have a work force that’s drug-free. So, from us to be able to forward these initiatives to help build that work force, it helps get, again, helps people get treatment that they need and ultimately gets them back into the work force and grows the economy.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Kevin Moore, thanks very much.

Kevin Moore:

Thank you for having me.