Even as we recover, more Wisconsinites are in need of Medicaid

An odd paradox of the COVID World in Wisconsin is that while more than half of the lost jobs have come back since April, the number of Wisconsinites requiring assistance keeps going up. One example of this is in Medicaid enrollments, which are up by nearly 170,000 since COVID started breaking out in March.

Digging inside the numbers, some of the increase in Badgercare enrollments in recent months has been driven by childless adults, whose enrollments have consistently grown and is now past 200,000. Another area that has had significant recent growth is in income extensions, which is a 12-month transition that goes to Badger Care recipients whose incomes have risen above the poverty line. The number of Wisconsinites on income extensions have jumped by nearly 25% in the last 3 months, and likely reflects people coming back to work, but still needing Badger Care for insurance.

Another BadgerCare program seeing more enrolles is the Senior Care drug program, with enrollment going from just over 95,000 at the start of 2020 to more than 99,000 in October. Senior Care was also in the news this week for another reason – a GOP complaint that seniors couldn’t get their COVID treatments paid for.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has not expanded the state's popular SeniorCare program to include coverage for vaccines, despite being required under a bipartisan law and as flu season begins while the coronavirus ravages the state.

Republican lawmakers are demanding an explanation from Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm, calling the delay an “unnecessary roadblock for seniors looking to protect themselves from infectious diseases.”...

The state could fund vaccinations provided through SeniorCare while it waits for approval from the federal government to help cover the costs, [Joint Finance Co-Chairs Rep. John] Nygren and [Alberta] Darling wrote. The vaccinations are expected to cost about $80,000 a year.

Not a bad idea, especially since it would make things a lot easier for Senior Care recipients to know that they're covered for the vaccinations.

But the kicker/reality comes in at the last paragraph of the article.

Palm said in an Oct. 19 letter to Nygren and Darling that before the expanded coverage could be implemented, the Legislature's budget committee needed to approve an amendment to the SeniorCare program so it could get federal reimbursement. That approval was given last week.

In other words, Nygren and Darling were complaining about something that they had the power to act on, but chose not to.

Nice try

Even worse, the only reason that DHS had to wait on the GOP-run JFC to sign off on that change to SeniorCare was because of the lame duck laws that Republicans passed after the last time they lost a state election. So all of the delays are the direct result of GOP decisions, but they shamelessly are trying to blame Evers for it. Pathetic.

One other item to remember on Medicaid is that at the end of 2020, state taxpayers will have to take on 6.2% more of the expenses associated with these higher enrollments. That’s because the extra help the Feds gave states for Medicaid in CARES will run out, and if the Legislature continues to avoid expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, those extra costs are going to cause a significant squeeze in the 2021-23 budget.

The increase in Medicaid enrollments in Wisconsin hasn't hit our state budget yet, and has largely been ignored in light of the breakout of COVID-19 and the November elections. But the fact that more Wisconsinites conitinue to need assistance should tell you that the economy isn't going as great as some might think, and with the prospect of a nuclear winter looming for the restaurant industry and brick-and-mortar retail, it's going to be something that state lawmakers are going to have to deal with soon enough.