STATEWIDE - Now that the new revenue estimates released earlier this week have failed to produce any budget saving unicorns, attention should shift to the $345 million Governor Walker is leaving on the table by rejecting enhanced federal funding for BadgerCare.
The map at right provided by the Center on Budget and Policy priorities shows just how isolated Wisconsin is in rejecting this money. Wisconsin is the only state in the entire Great Lakes region to turn down these critically important federal dollars.
As Citizen Action of Wisconsin explained earlier this week, because Governor’s Walker’s economic policies is generating mostly poverty-wage jobs, the cost of rejecting the BadgerCare money is increasing. One of the reasons that revenue estimates are slightly down is that the Governor’s policies are driving down wages in both the public and the private sector.
“This week’s revenue numbers should be a wake up call to Legislators to revisit Governor Walker’s damaging decision to rejected enhanced federal dollars for BadgerCare,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “Wisconsin cannot afford to needlessly leave tens of thousands of citizens without affordable health care, and in the process force massive cuts to critical investments in economic opportunity such as funding for our schools, technical colleges, and universities.”