Wisconsin would start health insurance marketplace, public option under Gov. Tony Evers' budget

[Greenbeard]

Exciting health stuff in Evers' budget. Medicaid expansion, a Medicaid buy-in public option, state control over the ACA marketplace, additional subsidies for marketplace buyers. In many ways it's a state version of the national Biden health care agenda.

Now, given that the GOP holds a 61-38 seat majority (despite winning 44.8% of the vote share in the last election to the Dems' 53.0%) in the State Assembly, presumably most of this progress won't happen until that state can somehow un-gerrymander itself. But exciting proposals, nonetheless.

Wisconsin would start health insurance marketplace, public option under Gov. Tony Evers' budget

Wisconsin would create a state-based health insurance marketplace and a public option plan in which people likely could buy into BadgerCare, the state’s main Medicaid program, under Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed budget.

The moves could save the state money and provide insurance for many who might lose coverage if the Affordable Care Act is struck down, the governor’s office said. Twenty-one states have state-based marketplaces and at least two — Colorado and Washington — are known to be pursuing public option programs.

The proposals are in addition to Medicaid expansion, which would save the state $634 million by tapping additional federal funds and cover 90,900 additional people while expanding benefits such as addiction treatment and enabling more payments to providers such as hospitals and nursing homes, Evers said. That measure is likely to be rejected by the Republican-controlled Legislature, as it was in Evers’ 2019 budget.

Premiums would likely be cheaper and the state could set its own enrollment periods and assistance efforts, according to Evers’ budget, which includes more premium assistance for those with low incomes.