Walker's cynical two-step on ACA finally catching up to him

I see our "Unintimidated" Governor tap-dancing all over the place when it comes to the Affordable Care Act this week. Check out this statement.

In Wisconsin, people living with a pre-existing condition are covered. In Jan, I called for adding a state law to affirm that coverage. You can see and hear for yourself: pic.twitter.com/heOx0w9EBH

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) September 20, 2018

In addition to the unstated admission that Walker and WisGOP are losing on this issue, we know it's BS for other reasons. After that State of the State speech, Walker signed off earlier this year on letting Attorney General Brad Schimel lead a federal lawsuit that seeks to throw out the ACA entirely, which would include the provision on requiring coverage for pre-existing conditions. So Walker is OK with getting rid of the ACA in court while claiming "we don't need a state law to protect pre-existing conditions because the ACA already does that."

Walker has also pulled this type of two-step on other parts of Obamacare. He has refused to use federal dollars that would have paid 100% of the costs to expand Medicaid, despite the fact that it would have covered more people, saved Wisconsinites nearly $700 million as of 2017, and will save at least $200 million a year in future years. Why? Scotty claimed it was because the ACA might go away some day, so we can't rely on the money, an uncertainty that doesn't exist for Scotty when it comes to the ACA's protections for pre-existing coverage.

If that sounds absurd, it's because it is. This ad from A Stronger Wisconsin hit the nail on the head as to the real reason Walker won't do the right thing with the ACA.

Refusing Medicaid expansion was a Walker calculation that let him stay on the good side of big-money right-wingers and the idiots that make up a lot of the GOP primary electorate nationwide, and what was best for Wisconsinites did not matter.

However, now that he is losing in the 2018 election, Walker is more than glad to use the ACA as an excuse to keep the insurance premiums mentioned in that ad from rising even higher before we vote in November. That's the central part of his reinsurance scheme, where Walker relies on federal ACA paybacks to subsidize insurers in an attempt to encourage them to keep prices down.

In addition to the absurd double-talk, we also know Walker doesn't mean it when he says he'd work to protect Wisconsinites with pre-existing conditions. See Scotty, the Google exists, and through it we know what Walker said right after the House GOP passed a bill in May 2017 to gut the ACA.

Gov. Scott Walker said Friday that he would consider seeking a waiver to let insurers raise premiums for people with pre-existing medical conditions if the House Republicans’ health care plan becomes law.

House GOP members narrowly passed the bill Thursday that would roll back former President Barack Obama’s health care law. Part of the bill would allow states to seek waivers exempting insurers from Obama’s prohibition on higher premiums for people with pre-existing problems. States could then use federal dollars to fund government-operated insurance programs for pools of expensive patients.

Walker, a Republican, told reporters that he would consider seeking such a waiver, saying Wisconsin has run high-risk pools well in the past.

“We had a very effective program before,” Walker said. “I think a lot of people were disappointed that Wisconsin was not allowed to have that under the Affordable Care Act, under Obamacare. So that’s something we’d certainly consider.”

Oh please. The only people who were disappointed were health care lobbyists, and Koched-up oligarchs who read Walker's comments in the right-wing Washington Examiner. But of course, that's who Walker was speaking to, since they pay bigger donations than destitute people with pre-existing conditions.

Governor Unintimidated backed off within hours once there was major public blowback. But make no mistake, if he thought it would help his electoral prospects at the state or (after 2018) the national level, he'd go back to "kill the ACA and leave it up to the insurance industry" in a heartbeat.

The fact that the ACA has been law for 8 years, but Walker STILL has no clue about what he'd do if it went away is another "tell" that Walker is scrambling with empty promises.

Headlines may change, but meta tags live on. pic.twitter.com/8WkiFmeWuT

— Chuck Engel (@chuckk_) September 20, 2018

We also know what Walker said about the ACA during his hilariously failed attempt to run for president. His statements were filled with "repeal and replace" BS and deregulation of insurance that absolutely would have allowed insurance companies to turn down individuals for coverage due to their medical conditions - either through outright rejection, or by making premiums and treatment so expensive that they would become unaffordable.

Just like with road funding and school aid cuts, we're seeing Scott Walker turn himself into a pretzel now that his past choices of "donors and politics over governance" are coming back to hurt him and other Wisconsinites. And just like with the other 2 issues, the more this grifter Dropout Governor tries to talk his way out of it, the more foolish he looks, reiterating that he is unfit for a third term.