The Wisconsin Senate passed a bill Tuesday prohibiting any public money from going toward health care coverage for people in the state illegally.
Despite Wisconsin law already preventing undocumented individuals from enrolling in BadgerCare, Wisconsin’s version of the federal Medicaid insurance program, Republicans said they worry Democratic Gov. Tony Evers or the state Department of Health Services may try changing that. Democrats accused the GOP of passing the bill to appease their political base.
During debate on the bill he coauthored, Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, posed a theoretical scenario where the governor or agency drafts an administrative rule creating a program in which “illegal aliens could receive health care coverage.”
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Wanggaard pointed to the experiences of other states that had offered public funds for undocumented immigrants before repealing them.
“This experiment has already been tried in Illinois and Minnesota, and it failed,” said Wanggaard. “Why do we want to be a test dummy again? It makes no sense.”
Democrats argued very few noncitizens in the U.S. receive health care subsidies. State Sen. Jeff Smith, D-New Brunswick, asked his colleagues “are we that heartless?”
“Go ahead and make your god dang political points and sleep with that,” said Smith. “Just keep your heads down. Don’t explain this to me or to anybody else, why you think you need to pass this when in fact, a hospital cannot turn down anyone.”
Three Democrats joined all Republicans to support the bill: Sen. Sarah Keyeski, D-Lodi, Sen. Jamie Wall, D-Green Bay, and Sen. Brad Pfaff, D-Onalaska.
The legislation already passed the Wisconsin Assembly in September. The bill now goes to Evers’ desk.
Republicans pass new definition of abortion on party-line vote
Republican state senators also passed a bill to create a new definition of abortion they argue would prevent doctors from providing necessary medical treatment that results in the unintentional death of a child during a pregnancy.
The move comes as state legislatures have grappled with what to do about abortion regulations following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022.
State Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, who is running for governor, said the bill represents Republicans trying to distance themselves “from the horrors that we are seeing in states that have banned and restricted abortion all over the country” since Roe was struck down.
“So rather than accept that reality you and the legislation that you’ve essentially created to put women and physicians in this horrible position, you now want to change the definition,” Roys said. “We’re just going to say, ‘Well, we’re just not going to call it abortion when a woman needs an abortion.’ That is so Orwellian. Words actually mean things.”
State Sen. Romaine Quinn, R-Birchwood, pushed back and said while “it’s no secret that I’m pro-life,” his bill is about tamping down concerns among women and doctors that certain medical procedures addressing things like unviable pregnancies might run afoul of Wisconsin’s existing 20-week abortion ban.
“The bill before us today simply removes ambiguity from our state statutes regarding what an abortion is not when Roe v. Wade was struck down and our previous abortion ban went into effect here in Wisconsin,” said Quinn. “There was concern that existing law did not account for the life and health of the mother.”
Quinn’s bill passed the Senate on a party-line 18-15 vote and now goes to the Wisconsin Assembly for consideration.
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