Rep. Eric Genrich (D-Green Bay) and Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) have introduced legislation allowing all Wisconsinites the chance to purchase BadgerCare.
I am extremely happy to see that Rep. Eric Genrich (D-Green Bay) and Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) have introduced legislation allowing all Wisconsinites the chance to purchase BadgerCare Plus. BadgerCare, as it is colloquially known, is a health-care reimbursement program for low-income Wisconsin residents. This bill would make it available for purchase for all residents and small businesses.
To me, it’s legislation with a myriad of upsides and extremely limited downsides.
It’s not a program that raises taxes. People, and small businesses, have to pay their own way in without public subsidies.
It’s not an entitlement and there are no penalties. People would make a choice to buy into BadgerCare.
It’s the next logical expansion of a program created by a Republican, former Gov. Tommy Thompson. The very Thompson who has, retroactively, become the hallowed saint of bipartisanship in Wisconsin politics, mostly because he wasn’t a colossal ass all the time.
It benefits people all across the state, not just in one region. Due to massive uncertainty in the health care market created by the reckless legislative catastrophes introduced by Speaker Paul Ryan and the Republicans in Washington, health care providers are pulling out of the HealthCare.gov marketplaces. This could leave many Wisconsinites without a health care option. BadgerCare for all would ensure that every market in the state continues to have a coverage option.
As is true with any health care option, it’s not perfect. The estimated annual price tag of $7,224 is too high for many people who make too much to qualify for the current BadgerCare. But for many it would be cheaper than current options. According to Citizen Action of Wisconsin, a 40-year-old applicant would be able to save up to 30 percent, or $2,162, per year, compared to the current Silver HealthCare.gov plans.
It seems to me that saving Wisconsinites a couple thousand dollars on health care costs is a pretty solid fiscal plan. Making life easier and better for the most people possible should be the goal of government. Compare that to the political right, which gleefully promotes plutocracy under the guise of trickle-down economics. Or the current divisions in the Democratic Party between messily defined “liberals,” who embrace the nothingness of empty pragmatism, and equally messily defined “left,” who are too obsessed with utopian ideals to move forward with a reasonable policy victory. This plan offers a reasonable approach for both wings of the current Democratic Party — it represents a pragmatic step forward that could form the backbone of more ambitious policy in a future, less diseased, political time.
Ideally, this plan would offer a sliding scale of subsidies for those stuck in the middle of the economic donut. A BadgerCare Plus Plus, for lack of a better term. But any discussion of subsidies would derail the discussion into a funding argument — “If we pay for middle-class people to get health care, we aren’t paying for schools/roads/our precious prisons/delicious tax cuts.” By not including subsidies in the initial debate, Republicans are forced to say “yes” or “no” to simply offering Wisconsinites more choice in how to purchase their health care. There’s no price tag to use as a shield.
By refusing to support this proposal, Republicans are admitting that their hatred of government services is more important than the health of the constituents they represent.
Between this bill, a slate of bills to protect LGBTQ+ rights and the recurring efforts to pass legislation to refinance student loans, I’m increasingly proud of the work being done by legislative Democrats. These are all reasonable, fiscally responsible bills that go back to the idea of a government aimed at maximizing the good for the most people possible. They are realistic bills, not pie-in-the-sky fantasy; they are what could and should be the law in a Wisconsin where the people’s representatives weren’t selected because of a biased redistricting map.
I don’t think many of us acknowledge how hard it is to be the opposition party in the current Wisconsin Legislature. There’s no filibuster in the state Senate. Even if there were, the gerrymandered districts helped give Republicans control of 60 percent of the seats in the Senate anyway, even though Trump won the state with less than 50 percent of the total vote. Speaking of gerrymandering, it encourages the rise of extremists who believe in young earth creationism or feel a near pathological need to control women’s bodies. Thus, there are no moderate Republicans left to form coalitions with, give or take a Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon).
Even on issues that should invite a bipartisan approach, such as opioid addiction, Democrats aren’t brought in to write any of the legislation. They are just expected to vote for the final bills, depriving their constituents of a chance at actual representation.
But all those challenges are a terrible excuse to not press forward. Merely objecting to the actions of the majority party, offering up doomed amendments to the latest piece of legislation drummed up by national conservative think tanks, lets Republicans drive the conversation. They reinforce the myth that the Democratic Party of Wisconsin reacts instead of acts.
The Republicans have a monopoly on power in the state and they can’t figure out how to do something as simple as figure out how to pay for roads. Clearly, they are no longer fit to govern the state of Wisconsin. The progressive but pragmatic bills from the Democrats show that they have a realistic, achievable agenda and are ready to govern again.
Editor's Note: This article was edited to better define the BadgerCare Plus program. BadgerCare, launched in 2008, combined the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid, and Healthy Start program funds under a single umbrella.
