While the Affordable Care Act has posed some questions and conflicts with certain states, it appears that Wisconsin may be the most conflicted. Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel reports that Wisconsin has opposed a fee of about $23 million set forth by the Affordable Care Act in an effort to cover
Medicaid costs through profit-earning insurance companies. Wisconsin is not alone in this lawsuit, as Texas has also been included in this opposition, along with Louisiana, Kansas, Indiana, and Nebraska. However, it appears that Wisconsin’s relationship with the ACA is the most challenging one.
Under the Affordable Care Act, states are offered federal dollars to fund their individualized Medicaid programs, yet Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has declined this assistance. In doing so, Wisconsin will be spending in excess of $678.6 million in state tax dollars when such costs could have been covered by federal monies through the ACA.
The reason for this rejection appears to be more of a matter of principle, as Walker has openly dismissed President Obama’s initiative, citing his concern for Wisconsinites’ financial wellbeing as the motive, along with what appears to be an invisible threat to the state’s Medicaid program. Realistically, taxpayers would have felt less of a financial impact had Walker opted to accept the ACA’s federal funding—which is used to cover the Medicaid costs for those who previously had none, primarily those who fall well below the poverty line.
Walker’s administration had moved toward a self-funded partial expansion of Medicaid, which replaced the previous coverage of BadgerCare Plus in exchange for the Health Insurance Marketplace offered under the ACA. This expansion had ACA dollars waiting on the table, but Walker unfortunately left them there.
In the lawsuit, Wisconsin alleges that the ACA charges a fee to insurance companies to cover costs, but requires the state to to reimburse said companies. Mathematically speaking, had Wisconsin accepted the ACA funding, $23 million fees would be the only taxes for the state to pay. Instead, there is the aforementioned $678.6 million tacked onto that through the 2017 fiscal year. As of June 30th of last year, Wisconsin declined about $227.6 million dollars offered through the ACA; another $200 million to come.
