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Friday, August 27, 2010

Scott Walker Wrong about BadgerCare, Lied because the Truth would have been too long an Answer!!!

The recent debate between Republican candidates for Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Mark Neumann must have been an unscrutinized cake walk when you consider how much misinformation hit the fan for the benefit of conservative voters.
Didn’t anyone dare question the following “easy ones” lobbed by these carnival barkers?

Jsonline: Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker inaccurately described the state's health care program for the poor this week - saying it was originally a temporary program when in fact it never was. Walker … in a debate Wednesday also said the program, called BadgerCare Plus, faces "all kinds of fraud and abuse," but rampant fraud has not been identified.

On Thursday, Walker said he did not want to put time limits on BadgerCare Plus, as he appeared to indicate in the debate a day earlier.

The reason Walker lied during the recent debate:

Walker said he improperly described BadgerCare Plus because candidates have to give short answers in debates.
For brevity, Walker only had time to lie, because the truth takes too long?

The Details:
Walker said he believed allowing people to receive benefits longer had the effect of keeping people on BadgerCare Plus longer, and that was the point he was trying to make in the debate. "It was supposed to be a temporary step up as they moved into permanent employment," Walker said of BadgerCare Plus in the debate.
But that wasn’t true either, because many employees don’t have any health care benefits at their place of work.
Almost 400,000 of (BadgerCare recipients) are working or are the spouse or child of someone who is working, according to state figures.
Of course how can you go wrong accusing government of “fraud and abuse?” Very…

"Instead, under this governor, we've had the time limits go away and we see a permanent entitlement created, and that's brought about all kinds of fraud and abuse and problems not only there but in the child care component as well. That will stop when I'm governor." Walker did not provide a source for claiming there was "all kinds of fraud and abuse" in BadgerCare Plus.

In 2008, the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau analyzed 9.4 million Medicaid payments from fiscal year 2006 and found fewer than 100 that were questionable.

Funny thing is, despite Walker’s incredible lack of familiarity of BadgerCare, he actually voted for it…

Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson created BadgerCare in 1997 as he overhauled welfare. It was meant to ensure low-income workers and their families would have health care. As a member of the Assembly at the time, Walker voted for it.

BadgerCare Plus and its precursor never included time limits.

Joe Leann, a Republican who served as Thompson's health and family services secretary at the time said, "There was no time limit envisioned, BadgerCare was intended to be there for however long (low-income) people were working jobs that didn't provide health care. . . . We need low-income families to stay healthy and productive."

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the major Democrat in the race, said in a statement, "For someone who voted for BadgerCare, Walker knows full well his campaign claims are just plain false."


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