Neanderthal Republicans sticking with failed 20th Century Health Care policies and theories, supported by lies!

Reminder: The following topic would not exist if we just had universal health care.

Locked in the 1900's: Republican Rep. Mark Born revealed the real reason our gerrymandered conservative legislature opposes life saving Medicaid expansion for 90,000 people, half of whom are not currently insured; profits! 

This was the whole point of Scott Walker's bastardized version of expanding (not really) welfare; Walker wanted to keep people in the private health care market so they could to pay high premiums and out of pocket costs that maintained insurer profits. He wasn't shy about that either.

WELFARE first: Notice how the Vos-Republicans are repeating the BIG LIE that health care for the poor is WELFARE. We're talking about a basic fundamental right to "promote the general WELFARE" of our civil society. Also, did you know access to medical care is a "life of poverty" trap?

Bad at Math? As for those "lower Medicaid reimbursement rates," the Republicans cruel and ghoulish health agenda is built on lying about that, because Governor Evers budget proposal subsidizes those rates:

"Expanding coverage and increasing Medicaid reimbursement for hospitals as well as primary care and specialty providers will reduce uncompensated care." 

Credit WKOW's Capitol City Sunday host A. J. Bayatpour, for coaxing Rep. Mark Born to repeat the lie again and again:

Rep. Born: "We've got people right now covered on private insurance, through the exchange...we know that the private insurance gives them better coverage and better payments to our health systems... that (expansion is) going to have a negative impact on how these health care providers are paid...which then requires private pay and private insurance to make up the difference so we're going to see rates go up for other folks...but those people have coverage on our private insurance, which we know is better for our system, for our health systems."

Again, from Evers 2021-22 budget...

Republicans aren't really against premium increases. Only as far back as 2017 Republicans in Congress were okay with premiums going up to pay for state "high risk pools," even on seniors:  

1. State waivers would allow insurers to charge older customers higher premiums by as much as they'd like.

At the same time in Wisconsin, this bait and switch scam bubbled up:

Gov. Scott Walker, as part of his election-year health care plan, requires insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions but allows the state insurance commissioner to alter protections, possibly by re-establishing a high-risk pool for such people.

"Re-establishing high risk pool..." and their losses! Think of these pools as a maze you're told to navigate if you want coverage bad enough. How effective were the high risk pools Walker wanted to revive? Hint-they lost money and raised individual insurance premiums:

Wisconsin's high-risk pool insured about 21,000 people, with critics saying high prices kept tens or hundreds of thousands of others from accessing it. Those applying for the program had to wait six months before they were allowed into it and a lifetime cap of $2 million. Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan lost $6.9 million in 2011, roughly a third of which was offset by a federal grant, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The same year, programs in the 35 states lost a total of at least $272 million.

Recession Proofing Health Care: Times have changed, so with Medicaid expansion, future economic downturns are covered: 

Jason Stein, Research Director for the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum, said the debate has taken on a different look this year because more than 200,000 new enrollees have signed up for BadgerCare during the pandemic. "We've had an enormous expansion of the program just because you've had higher unemployment."

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.

Scott Walker: Unemployed are Worthless Human Beings, won't get Health Care without Work.

Why aren't the Democrats pummeling Scott Walker and Trump over their plan to make unemployed Americans work so they can get medical treatment under Medicaid? Media reports have never even brought up how absurd and cruel withholding health care is for any anyone including the unemployed.

What am I missing here? What part of the following upside down comment makes any sense?

Seema Verma, head of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (said), “Medicaid needs to be more flexible so that states can best address the needs of this population. Our fundamental goal is to make a positive and lasting difference in the health and wellness of our beneficiaries."

1. Health care is Not a Consumer Product, a Free Market Privilege: Republicans are absurdly saying you have to work for health care, which firmly establishes it in law as a reward for the deserving, and affirms it as a thing we can give or take away. Ever other industrialized country in the world believes that's just morally and ethically bankrupt, especially making a profit from the sick.

2. Opposite Day Everyday-a "Positive Difference in Wellness?" How can withholding treatment from someone not working, whose health took a bad turn, be a "positive goal" that "addresses the needs of this population?"

3. Not-so-Civilized Society: It means we've lost our humanity, and abandons once and for all our sense of responsibility to treat the sick.

4. Convoluted Big Government Bureaucratic Regulation: Imagine the paperwork, off and online application, uploading or mailing requirements, especially for those ill-equipped to deal with all or part of the complicated process. 

It's not about Saving Money, getting People Back to Work: As demonstrated by the Republican tax cut adding $2 trillion to the deficit, it's only about their cruel ideological agenda:

Critics say these moves will cost taxpayers more than they save, trigger costly lawsuits and fail to boost the state’s economy the way other investments might.

Scott Walker to "depend on uncertain federal funds" for Medicaid now, changing his mind about getting federal dollars back!!!

Huh? Scott Walker now believes taking "uncertain federal funds from the government for Medicaid is A-okay? Anyone else got whiplash? 

Scott Walker won't Depend on Unreliable Federal Medicaid Funding: Just to be clear, Walker turn down Medicaid expansion because it was supposedly an unreliable source for funding, so taking no money was the better than the Obama alternative.

The Walker administration contended that the federal government eventually will reduce the money available to states through the law because of persistent U.S. budget deficits.

The federal government cannot meet its current Medicaid obligations, Laurel Patrick, a spokeswoman for Walker, said in an email ... "We maintain that states should not depend on the use of uncertain federal funds, which is why Governor Walker implemented unique reforms ..." Patrick said.

Scott Walker will Depend on Unreliable Federal Medicaid Funding: While Democrats and independents were screaming "Let's get our federal tax dollars back for Medicaid expansion, don't turn down getting our own money back..."

...Walker is now saying, "Let's get our federal tax dollars back!" He really doesn't remember his principled stand? Fox News:

Going Easy on Sexual Assaults on Campus vs Cracking down on Truck-stop Human Trafficking? Republicans are masters at having it both ways because they do it so often, their own voters can't keep track. So which is it, are Republicans for or against protecting women from sexual assault and/or exploitation? First, jaws dropped when Trump irresponsibly eased off the epidemic of campus sexual assaults. Not a whisper from outraged Republicans:

The action crystallized a pledge Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made on Sept. 7 to replace what she called a “failed system” of civil rights enforcement related to campus sexual assault. In her view, the government under President Barack Obama did not strike the right balance in protecting the rights of victims and the accused ... "institutions are going to need to look at their processes to make sure they’re not biased against the accused."

Yet, breathless Wisconsin Republicans are targeting human trafficking at truck-stops, without ever complaining or demanding Trump back off the tougher standards dealing with sexual assaults on campus. And thank you Rep. Kleefisch for saying "Wisconsin is a hub of human trafficking." What a way to promote the state. WISC TV:

"Stand with Walker" voters like Wasting Money, and Lots of it if it makes their point about ObamaCare.

While the national media tore Scott Walker a "new one," state reporters just don't seem to get the ins and outs of the Affordable Care Act...accept for Guy Boulton:

Wisconsin uses Affordable Care Act but rejects funding for it: Guy Boulton-Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin's decision last week to challenge a fee imposed by the Affordable Care Act set up a comparison not lost on advocates who support the law.

So is Walker saving taxpayers money?

The fee has cost the state about $23 million so far ... Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature's opposition to the law is projected to cost $678.6 million in state tax dollars through the 2017 fiscal year.

That doesn't sound too taxpayer friendly. But as with all conservative ideas, if it's their law, wasting money doesn't matter...it's the principle:

Wisconsin is the only state in the country to use the Affordable Care Act to expand its Medicaid program while turning down the additional federal dollars ... to pay for it.

As we all know, Republicans don't like paying for anything. Life is a free ride to them. So what's behind this Walker/Schimel lawsuit that has them so riled up? Let's start with Walker's cockeyed crazy reasoning...remember, this is costing taxpayer $23 million plus $678 million through 2017:

"Once again, we are taking action to protect Wisconsin taxpayers from the adverse effects the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act has on our citizens. This lawsuit is meant to ensure Wisconsinites are not left paying this unconstitutional and coercive tax..."

But what's obvious to everyone else is this:

"He's looking for pennies on the floor of his car, when he should be looking at the bags of money in front of him," said Bobby Peterson, executive director of ABC for Health, a public interest law firm.

Taxpayers are currently paying about 42% of the Medicaid bill, instead of ZERO and just 10% after that. No, you don't have to be a math genius to figure this one out:

Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government initially would pay the full cost of covering poor people previously not eligible for Medicaid through 2016, with the federal government's share gradually dropping to 90% by 2020.

Bullshit: Walker is peddling bullshit with little persistent blowback by the media, who could have stopped this lunacy in its tracks. Notice the word "contend," that allows this bullshit to continue unchallenged:

The Walker administration and others have contended that the federal government eventually will reduce the money available to states through the law because of persistent U.S. budget deficits.

The federal government cannot meet its current Medicaid obligations, Laurel Patrick, a spokeswoman for Walker, said in an email ... "We maintain that states should not depend on the use of uncertain federal funds, which is why Governor Walker implemented unique reforms ..." Patrick said.

This is why Wisconsin isn't getting back every dollar we send to Washington:

As of June 30, the state had passed up an estimated $227.6 million available through the law, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. More than $200 million will be added to the tab in the current fiscal year.

"He's just completely tone deaf on this issue, and he's not running for higher office anymore," Peterson said of Walker. "He ought to consider going after this money instead of these obscure objections to the ACA. "At some point they need to move on," he said.

Walker's biggest problem? An actual law designed to pay for itself:

The fee on insurance companies was among the myriad taxes imposed by the law to help pay for the cost of expanding insurance coverage. By requiring states to reimburse the insurance companies, also known as managed care organizations, for the fee, the federal government has imposed the taxes on the states, the lawsuit alleges.

Timothy Jost, an emeritus professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law and an expert on the complexities of the Affordable Care Act, said he doesn't believe the lawsuit has much merit. "The states don't have to participate in Medicaid," Jost said. "But if they do, they have to play by the rules, and this is a pretty garden-variety rule." Jost wrote that the states also pay substantial amounts to cover other federal taxes paid by Medicaid managed care organizations, such as payroll taxes.

Putting up the appearance of "looking out for the taxpayer," watch for the Walker's medicine show in a location near you:

"We have and will continue our work to protect taxpayers from the costly consequences of the ACA," Patrick said in the email.