skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

AARP-WI Urges Expansion of Medicaid in the State

play audio
Play

Monday, February 11, 2013   

MADISON, Wis. - Under the new federal health care law, Wisconsin could expand Medicaid (called Badger Care in Wisconsin) to cover an additional 175,000 more people - and potentially save money doing it. Helen Marks Dicks, state issues advocacy director for AARP-Wisconsin, urged Gov. Walker to use available federal money to expand the program, saying childless adults would benefit most directly.

"That's the big hole right now in the Badger Care system: people who are single and don't have an opportunity for insurance by other means, and they don't have children," she said. "With Badger Care Plus, if you have children you can get coverage."

Others who would benefit include people ages 50 to 64 who have lost their job or are having trouble finding work. Some opposed to the expansion are skeptical that the federal government will actually make the funds available, she noted, but is confident it would be beneficial in the near term.

"We do our budgets two years at a time, and right now it looks like the money will be just fine for these two years," she said. "In the past when we've had a crisis in Medicaid funding, we've dealt with it on a state level. If there's a crisis because the feds change, then we'll deal with it."

Dicks urged Wisconsin to take advantage of the federal dollars because it makes sense and because good health is a benefit that needs to be defended and guaranteed for all people, not just those who can afford it.

The proposed expansion will have many direct benefits, Dicks said.

"More people with insurance; less hospitals having to cover uncompensated care; jobs created through it, in some studies I've seen," she said. "And it takes some of the pressure off the taxpayers to meet the Medicaid expenses."

A study of the proposal by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated that the state could save $66 million over the first three years of the proposal.

Increasing access to adequate health care means citizens' health improves, they work more and they don't die prematurely, Dicks added.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …


Organizations fighting wage theft said it harms affected workers and surrounding communities because the money withheld is not being circulated through the local economy. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Environment

play sound

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021