Walker talks ACA at White House
MADISON - At the White House on Monday, Gov. Scott Walker talked with other governors and officials in Donald Trump’s administration about last week’s Senate failure to repeal Obamacare and the way it has left states like Wisconsin at a continued disadvantage.
Walker on Saturday issued a statement calling for the federal government to give states “the resources and responsibility for health care.” He wants the federal government to continue to help fund Medicaid health care programs for the poor, disabled and elderly but give states “full responsibility” for how those programs are run,” his statement said.
“Governors and other state leaders are more effective, more efficient and more accountable to the public,” Walker said in his statement.
Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, allowed states to expand their Medicaid programs. Under Walker, Wisconsin made a limited expansion of its Medicaid programs, but not in a way that would have allowed it to capture large sums of additional federal money.
In his statement, Walker said the federal government should continue to provide funding for states that expanded their Medicaid programs “while providing some parity to non-expansion states.”
Already, Wisconsin taxpayers have had to spend $679 million more than they would have under a full expansion of Medicaid that would have captured more federal tax dollars, according to the Legislature’s non-partisan budget office.
A June report by the Missouri Hospital Association found that states like Wisconsin would lose billions of dollars over the coming years compared to states that have fully expanded Medicaid.
Walker and GOP legislative leaders in Wisconsin have repeatedly rejected expanding Medicaid, saying that the additional stream of federal money could someday end and leave the state with painful choices. But so far, the additional federal money has continued to flow in spite of the fact that Republicans have now controlled all of the federal government for half a year.
Late Sunday, Walker canceled plans to visit White Lake and Chippewa Falls on Monday so he could go to the White House instead.
Trump officials were also meeting Monday with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), according to The Hill and Politico.