Walker's "Work or No Doctor" money saver!

Just keeping track....

Scott Walker’s okay with taking that one step further than any civilized industrialized country in the world would ever think of doing; not only is he against universal health care as a human right, but now Walker wants to keep the riff-raff out by testing them for drugs and forcing them to work at whatever demoralizing job the state's job center has to offer. What, stay in the profession you were trained in? Yea, right.

Wisconsin is still waiting to see if the federal government will let it require childless adults on Medicaid to be screened for drugs and work if they are able ... also asked in June to add premiums and co-pays for some adults without dependent children on Medicaid ... Walker said (this) would help people move from public assistance to the workforce.

Walker's not alone. A few years back Republicans wouldn't have had the courage to bring back what is simply 21st century slavery, just to see a doctor. 

Thanks to Trump's narcissistic bloviating, Republicans are now completely free to push their hideous conscience free vision that ultimately will save government lots of Medicaid money:    

Donald Trump’s administration said last month it was planning to let Wisconsin and other states require able-bodied people on Medicaid to work or do other activities, such as train for a job or do community service. “We see people moving off of Medicaid as a good outcome,” said CMS head Seema Verma.

In other words, turning people into paying customers so for-profit private insurers can make money. Hey this is capitalism, not a civilized social society taking care of their own.  

As you can see by the list of jobs pictured here, we're truly a service society with low wages. The better jobs require not just on the job training but a degree, something Republicans have been telling us is just a waste of time. Oh, do you want fries with that?

Real world state of our state?

A report from from the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS), a nonpartisan think-tank based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Wisconsin gained just under 180,000 private-sector jobs. Had it been gaining jobs at the national rate, it would have seen an increase of more than 300,000 jobs, the report said. “In the 21st century, and over the last six years, Wisconsin’s private sector job base has substantially and consistently underperformed,” the report said.

 

Laura Dresser, associate director of COWS, said (even though) it’s much better to be looking for work in the state now, “We don’t see any of the other things moving in the right direction.”

The report also addressed long-term wage stagnation. Since 1979, wages in Wisconsin have risen about 3 cents an hour, taking inflation into account. That means a full-time worker would earn about $1,800 more annually than they would in 1979.

COWS also drew attention to the fact that from 2000 to 2013, the percentage of families in the middle class decreased by 5.7 percent, the “largest decline posted by any state in the nation,” the report said. 

The report concludes by saying “there is no evidence that any of the economic reforms of the last six years have changed the trajectory for the state.”  

Dresser said all the problems outlined in the report are national problems that Wisconsin shares. But the policy changes under Walker were meant to add 250,000 private-sector jobs, grow the economy and move Wisconsin ahead of national averages, she said. “We haven't moved ahead of anything,” she said.