ONLINE: ​​​​Accessible and Affordable Healthcare​​​

media release: The Badger Bounceback Live Session on Accessible & Affordable Healthcare will occur on Thurs., March 25, 2021, at  6 p.m. Wisconsinites are invited to register to attend here. 

Gov. Tony Evers will this week host the second of six virtual Badger Bounceback Live Sessions to discuss his 2021-23 budget proposal. The listening session will cover topics including expanding access to quality, affordable healthcare, protecting people who have pre-existing conditions, investing in mental health services, expanding BadgerCare, and investing in caregiving and long-term care for aging and older adults and people with disabilities.  

“Healthcare shouldn’t be a privilege afforded only to the healthy and wealthy, and if there’s anything we’ve learned this year it’s that the health and wellness of our state and our economy depend on the health and wellness of our communities,” said Gov. Evers. “That’s why our Badger Bounceback budget tackles healthcare accessibility and affordability head-on by expanding BadgerCare and making key investments so every Wisconsinite can lead a healthy life.”

The governor’s Badger Bounceback budget proposal ensures families, communities, and the state can bounce back and better by expanding BadgerCare to provide coverage to tens of thousands of additional Wisconsinites while providing approximately $1.6 billion in costs savings to our state and drawing down $3.7 billion from the federal government in funds that would otherwise be going to other states. A Marquette University Law Poll found that 70 percent of Wisconsinites support expanding BadgerCare in Wisconsin.

In addition to expanding BadgerCare, among many other provisions, the governor is also proposing:

• Tackling skyrocketing prescription drug prices by controlling costs, increasing transparency and oversight, strengthening consumer protections, and bolstering programs designed to support Wisconsin’s most vulnerable;
• Investing more than $150 million in initiatives and programs designed to improve Wisconsinite’s access to quality mental and behavioral health services and treatment;
• Strengthening public health infrastructure by making the largest GPR public health investment in at least the last 20 years;
• Supporting our caregivers and long-term care community by building upon the work of the governor’s Task Force on Caregiving and investing more than $600 million in Wisconsin’s long-term care infrastructure, direct care workforce, and family caregivers;
• Reducing barriers to telehealth services, which are often more convenient and affordable for patients, by ensuring access and coverage; and
• Promoting health equity initiatives and addresses disparities with key investments in maternal and infant health, women's health, community-based health equity initiatives, and addressing health determinants like housing, nutrition, and transportation.

The full Badger Bounceback Live Session schedule and registration links are available on the governor's website here. Sessions will be streamed on the governor’s YouTube page here. 

During the months of November and December 2020, Gov. Evers hosted four public budget listening sessions on areas including healthcare, environment, infrastructure and the economy, justice reform, and education. More than 1,000 Wisconsinites participated virtually, helping provide direct ideas and feedback for the governor’s 2021-23 biennial budget. On February 16, 2021, Gov. Evers announced his 2021-23 biennial budget, which makes historic investments in several key areas that have been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and proposes several policy initiatives supported by a majority of Wisconsinites across the state. Although the governor’s Badger Bounceback agenda has already received extensive bipartisan praise and support, Republican leaders have indicated they intend to start from scratch during the legislative budget deliberations.  Gov. Evers has hosted listening sessions before and after introducing his budget for two consecutive biennia. Unlike typical listening sessions, the governor’s listening sessions involve facilitated, smaller group discussions that allow participating Wisconsinites to engage in conversation and dialogue with other Wisconsinites who share or have different perspectives on an issue while Gov. Evers, members of the Evers administration, and other state and local elected leaders have the opportunity to listen.