Impact Of Proposed Health Care Act Unknown In Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s top health official says she doesn’t know how the proposed Republican health plan moving through Congress would affect coverage in the state.

“I don’t think anybody knows at this point how many people would gain or lose coverage,” Linda Seemeyer, secretary of the state Department of Health Services, said. “I think it depends upon how the market reacts with premiums, and I think it’s also fair to say that people are losing coverage now. So I don’t know. It’s a tough question to answer.”

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Republican health plan would result in 24 million Americans being uninsured. Gov. Scott Walker has said the plan to replace the Affordable Care Act has “room for progress.”

More than 242,000 people in Wisconsin are enrolled in the federal marketplace and most get subsidies based on income to help them pay for coverage. The Republican plan does offer financial help to pay for coverage in the form of a tax credit based on age, but it allows insurers to charge older people five times as much as younger consumers.

Medicaid would also change under the Republican health plan. States would get a fixed amount called a block grant or be allotted funds per capita. This would allow Wisconsin the flexibility to make changes like drug testing for childless adults on BadgerCare.

Seemeyer said Walker believes drug testing for Medicaid benefits will help Wisconsin’s economy because companies are in need of workers.

“So I think it’s a combination of that, and it’s a combination of the fact we have a real drug problem here in the state that everybody acknowledges,” Seemeyer said.

The Walker administration also seeks to impose a time limit and expand the premiums people pay under BadgerCare Plus.