Wisconsin gives away billions by not expanding Medicaid

The Commonwealth Fund, which is a health care study group out of New York University, came out with a report today that illustrates just how stupid it is to reject the expanded Medicaid funding that is part of the Affordable Care Act.

I'll give you the national picture first, and then narrow it down into the case of Wisconsin, which is one of those stupid states that hasn't taken the expanded Medicaid funding. Basically, the Commonwealth Fund points out that the federal government will be picking up a big chunk of expenses that states usually pick up, and it would be ridiculous for states not to take advantage.

We find that the Medicaid expansion will be a relatively large source of federal revenue to state enterprises. The value of new federal funds flowing annually to states that choose to participate in the Medicaid expansion in 2022 will be, on average, about 2.35 times as great as expected federal highway funds going to state governments in that year and over one-quarter as large as expected defense procurement contracts to states.

No state would experience a positive flow of funds by choosing to reject the Medicaid expansion. Because the federal share of the Medicaid expansion is so much greater than the state share, taxpayers in nonparticipating states will nonetheless bear a significant share of the overall cost of the expansion through federal tax payments—and not enjoy any of the benefits.

So the Commonwealth Fund is basically pointing out that not taking the expanded Medicaid funding is a fiscal loser, and the reason why is that it leads to a huge increase in the share of the expenses that the feds will take on.

The Affordable Care Act includes a substantial expansion of eligibility for Medicaid. Beginning in January 2014, all documented residents under 65 years of age with incomes below 138 percent of the federal poverty level and who live in states choosing to participate in the expansion will be eligible for Medicaid.

In states that do not participate in the expansion, analysts anticipate that some people already eligible for Medicaid who have not participated in the past will enroll. The federal government will fund a share of Medicaid costs for these participants who meet eligibility levels that predate the Affordable Care Act. The share is determined by states’ current federal medical assistance percentages (FMAP), which range from 50 percent in Connecticut and New Jersey to 73 percent in Mississippi. (Wisconsin's FMAP has been estimated to be around 58%) In states that choose to participate in the Medicaid expansion, Medicaid eligibility will expand to cover more people. Between 2014 and 2016, the federal government will pay 100 percent of the Medicaid costs for these newly eligible enrollees, declining to 90 percent by 2020.

So under current law, Wisconsin taxpayers have to pick up another 42% of costs for the next 3 years, and 32% between 2016 and 2020, all because Scott Walker and the GOP refuses to take this expanded funding for Medicaid. If states don't want to make up all that money, they then have to reduce benefits and/or cut people off of services, which is certainly going to happen for tens of thousands of Wisconsinites that aren't in poverty, but are barely getting by.

The Commonwealth Fund estimates just how much states that don't take the expansion would be giving up by 2022, along with the resulting outflow of federal taxes and payments to other places that would result.

Not surprisingly, Texass is the worst-off of the Bagger states that refuse the Medicaid funds, as they'd be giving away nearly $9.6 billion in federal funds by 2022, and having $9.2 billion in Texans' federal taxes flowing to other states as a result of this decision. Florida is second, at giving away $9.6 billion in federal money, and having $5.0 billion in federal taxes go elsewhere. And Wisconsin is not immune from this.

Result of not taking Medicaid funds, Wisconsin, 2022
Loss of federal funds- $1.75 billion
Wisconsin fed tax dollars going elsewhere- $1.85 billion

And here's the real kicker. Know what Wisconsin's cost in 2022 would be to gain that $1.75 billion in federal funding? and keep the $1.85 billion in federal dollars here? $56 million. That's a 30 to 1 payoff on investment. I think I'd take that trade if I was a lawmaker.

Lastly, the lame argument from righties about "We can't be sure if the expanded Medicaid funding goes away" falls extremely flat. As the Commonwealth Fund brings up, Federal Highway Transportation Funds to Wisconsin are estimated at $967 million for 2022, but Wisconsin is counting on federal funds to pay for the Zoo Interchange, I-90 and I-94 expansion over the next few years. Heck, Walker borrowed huge amounts of funds for these highway projects and refused to raise the gas tax in the process, but you never heard any concern about backing off and playing it safe in case the feds stop giving so much help to build the interstates.

Likewise, the 2013-15 state budget estimates that the UW System will receive nearly $3.7 billion in federal funding over two years. With the sequester particularly scheduled to hit federally-funded research, it could easily be argued that the UW System's federal funding is much more at risk than the expanded Medicaid funding for the next 2 years. In fact, the GOP Legislature criticized the UW System claimed these types of uncertainties led them to set aside large amounts of funds in case other sources started to run out. Somehow this comparison is never brought up to Gov Walker when he tries to spread the line of BS that "Well, maybe we won't continue to get a 90% or 100% match on Medicaid."

So here's more proof that refusing to take the ACA's Medicaid funds is another pig-headed Walker decision, and it recalls the foolishness of not taking stimulus funds to contribute to a rail line between Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and the Twin Cities. Both of these decision are fiscally irresponsible follies that have not lowered Wisconsinites' taxes, have not helped the services available to Wisconsinites, and is leaving our state behind our neighbors, who had the foresight not to pass up a good thing just because Obama favored it.

In fact, it seems to have only served to impress the miniscule, aging talk-radio listeners and other bubble-worlders that apparently matter most to Scott Walker, at the detriment to everyone else. And that's something that should be hung around his neck for the next 11 months between now and Election Day 2014, along with every GOP Legislator that rubber stamps this idiocy. And yes, EVERY GOP IN THE ASSEMBLY voted to table an amendment that would have taken the expanded Medicaid funding.

3 Progressive Dems show how things should be discussed

Here are three examples showing what Dems SHOULD be saying, and ignoring the spineless worries of the "please be moderate" Beltway crowd.

1. Sen. Elizabeth Warren heads this list, with a clip of her doing what she does best- bringing the facts, identifying real problems, and coming up with solutions to those problems. Here's an example from a couple of weeks ago, where she rightly describes a "retirement crisis" brought on by the decline of pensions and flat wages, and comes up with the common-sense solution to expand Social Security to meet this economic problem.



This type of honesty is why the Elizabeth Warren wing is in ascendance these days. Because members of that group get to the root causes of our issues in ways that no Republican and far too many Democrats wish to take on, out of fear of big-money contributors and a fear of having to actually earn their paycheck. Average, everyday citizens are recognizing that the Warren wing is making a difference, which clearly scares Third Way and other "moderate" oligarch organizations.

2. Moving down into the House, Madison's own Mark Pocan also shows how it's done. In addition to another Congress member that asks for Social Security be expanded, he is once again shining the spotlight on the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. The Guardian reported today on how it is trying to rebrand its image after receiving major criticism for supporting ultra-conservative policies, and is now running a deficit after losing large numbers of corporate and legislative members. It is now trying to set up a 510-c-4 organization called the Jeffersonian Project, which will separate it from ALEC's current 501-c-3 "apolitical charity" status. Pocan pointed out the lipstick on the pig known as ALEC.

“The only charity work ALEC does is on behalf of needy corporations and lonely legislators,” Pocan said. “It is past time that ALEC is exposed for what it is—a corporate lobbying firm doing the bidding of corporations. As the article details, they are now trying to not only hide their intensions, but their funding as well in a new “social welfare” organization. The IRS needs to step in and strip ALEC of its ability to rig the democratic system and rob the American taxpayers.”

Last year, Pocan sent a letter to the IRS urging them to investigate ALEC’s tax filing. He also wrote a letter to the ALEC Chairman asking him to justify its tax filing status. He never received a response.

Pocan also exposed ALEC's doings by going undercover and attending a couple of ALEC conventions while he was in the Wisconsin Legislature (a tradition continued by Pocan's east side Madison successor, Chris Taylor), and calling "BULLSHIT!" on these secretive corporate puppetmasters is the type of standard that Dems should follow nationwide.

3. Wisconsin State Sen. Julie Lassa is the third legislator that deserves props, as she wrote a strong editorial today asking the GOP-controlled Legislature to come to its senses, and take the expanded Medicaid funding available in Obamacare when it meets later this month.

Along with refusing to set up a state exchange, the Governor chose to reject federal funding for the expansion of Medicaid. And the administration has not taken advantage of the ACA’s provisions that allow the state to prevent insurance companies from increasing rates. The result is that fewer Wisconsinites are being covered and those who are will be paying much higher rates.

Our neighbors in Minnesota went in the exact opposite direction, and chose to implement the ACA the way it was designed. As a result, health care premiums in Minnesota are between 25 and 35 percent lower than in Wisconsin, despite the fact that per capita health care costs are basically the same in both states. Thousands of Minnesotans have enrolled in coverage through their state-run exchange, as compared with only a few hundred in Wisconsin using the federal website...

This situation wasn’t caused by Obamacare. It was created by a governor and a Republican majority in the Legislature whose ideological approach to health care made preventing the implementation of ACA more important than making sure people got coverage.

The problems with the federal website are being repaired, but Wisconsin’s health care coverage problems will be long lasting until our state government stops playing politics with the Affordable Care Act and starts taking the steps other states have taken to make affordable health care available to more of our citizens.

Sen. Lassa is unapologetically supporting policies that are fiscally sensible while also covering the most Wisconsinites. That's the type of tone Dems need to have for the next 11 months, to show a real alternative to the failing, ideological track that we have been on in Fitzwalkerstan for nearly three years. It not only illustrates the uncaring mentality of the Walker Administration when it comes to health care, it shows that we are falling behind our neighbors to the west because we didn't make the same choices they did- and it reiterates that this failure is Walker's, not Obamacare's. Lassa's strong statement has another benefit- it happens to be true, and anyone made aware of this WisGOP sabotage is not likely to vote Republican next November.

Candidates like Elizabeth Warren, Mark Pocan and Julie Lassa that stand up for values such as providing insurance to the sick, rewarding people who have put in a lifetime of work, and demanding fairness in our economic system are people we should rally around, and demand more like them. Not just due to the better society that results from these things, but because it will lead to more wins in November for Democrats, which increases the chances of the Overton window finally moving back toward the middle, sending our policies into the 21st Century.

These examples are also why the whole argument of "Democrats must unite" and supporting "electable" centrism rings hollow for me. The mealy-mouthed, pro-corporate approach doesn't inspire people, it doesn't win many elections and doesn't get things done that make for real change. It's why I approve of a Kathleen Vinehout challenge to Mary Burke in the August 2014 primary for governor of Wisconsin. A vibrant exchange of ideas will push the conversation in the governor's race in a more progressive direction, spark interest in the winning candidate for casual voters (regardless of who that candidate is), and help other Dems downticket due to a strong message that majorities agree with.

Today in massive media failures

As I await seeing if Russell Wilson will put me in the fantasy league playoffs (only because I made the brilliant idea to sit Alshon Jeffrey yesterday), I'll forward a few articles for you to check out relating to our continued failure of political media.

1. I love Charlie Pierce's Monday rundowns of the garbage that is today's Sunday talk shows, and today's article may have been the best I've seen of him yet. First, he gives a great evisceration of Karl Rove dance partner David Gregory, who allowed Bagger Rep. Mike Rogers to claim the 15% reported to be without health care is "probably high", and wax for minutes about "stories he's heard" about Obamacare leading to people losing coverage while giving Dem Chris Van Hollen approximately 10 seconds to respond. Then Marquette grad Pierce lays one on another ridiculous Sunday fixture- Peggy Noonan, and her take on a pope who dares to follow the teachings of Jesus.

NOONAN: Here's -- there are many different ways to approach the pope's paper, which is long and which dealt with many things. One of the thoughts I had briefly was this. Our modern popes have tended to be European social democrats. They are -- socialism is not something that has upset them (inaudible). They grew up in a certain world and they grew to understand the economic ways and practices and traditions of the West. The free place, which was helpful to them as they -- they, cardinals who became popes, resisted the Communist world. Now we have a new pope, Francis, from Argentina. His tradition is different. He may indeed view capitalism with a more jaundiced eye, (inaudible) in a way of critiquing it that previous popes have. But he may be bringing something else that will be revealed in time.

The previous two popes were a lot of things, but social democrats was not at the top of the list. And Francis, because he's from South American, may look at capitalism with a more jaundiced eye than do European social democrats? Of course, who can say about the future because it is not the present.

And we'd be remiss if we didn't note this classic Noonerism, in which Norman Rockwell takes blotter acid and paints with his own blood.

NOONAN: Woodrow Wilson stayed in Washington because he was dreadfully ill. He had had a stroke or a series of strokes, and so he was not well, so he moved a few blocks away from the White House. I think we'd all agree, in general, it is very good when the presidents arrive from a real American place, and it's very good when they get their job done to leave and get home, go home to the real American place. As Harry Truman did, as Reagan did.

Gee, I wonder which president did not "arrive from a real American place"? And Reagan went back to a multimillion dollar ranch in the California hills, which are indeed in America, but I don't believe they are what Noonan had in mind. Or maybe so. That would be in the future, which we cannot know, because it is not yet.

2. Charlie also has some nice words for our Governor, who showed up on CBS over the weekend for another not-so-hard-hitting interview. Walker made a silly claim about GOP states doing better in unemployment rate (and not mentioning that "Dem states" like California, Minnesota, and Colorado started dropping quickly once they threw out the GOPs that ran those states until 2010), calls Virginia a Republican state despite the fact that it's gone Dem the last 2 presidential elections, and just elected its third Dem governor in the last 4 terms.

Never underestimate [Walker]'s ability to prevaricate with a (relatively) straight face. Wisconsin is ranked 45th by Forbes in job growth. (Where are those 250,000 new jobs, Scotty? I'll tell you where they are. They're in Minnesota.) Does he really want to compare California with Texas? Does Texas win by any measure save poisonous lizards and exploding unregulated fertilizer plants? Virginia just elected a Democratic governor, foof, largely because the prominent transvaginalist who held the job took exactly the same kind of bold unintimidated stands that you crow about in your recently released book-like product. Sometimes, the line between bullshit and dumbass is passing thin.

3. And yet we still have DC dumbasses like Nate Cohn trying to call Walker some kind of unifying moderate who has something more than a snowball's chance in hell of being the GOP nominee in 2016. I dare you to read this bilge without either laughing hysterically, or puking your guts out at the Beltway "analysis". Cohn clearly just threw a bunch of superficial stats and events down on paper and didn't actually try to do 5 minutes of research into how things actually went down here.

Let me give you a clue Nate. You're dealing with a mendacious sociopath whose campaign tells supporters that sending him money is better for Wisconsinites than buying Christmas presents for their kids. Of course, if Nate and other I-95 media want to do some actual on-the-ground journalism and check into how things REALLY have been done in Fitzwalkerstan, we'll gladly welcome it, since we sure don't get it from the locals here. And if there was a national expose, Walker's political career would be over in a matter of weeks.

The Journal-Sentinel is covering up for their boy Scotty

Here is a longer version of a letter I sent on Saturday to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Unfortunately, they limit the letters to 200 words, and there's a whole lot more I had to reveal on this subject.

In watching Gov Walker's recent book tour, it was remarkable how he consistently would deceive and omit important information about the events of the last 3 years. Walker said that he didn't consider planting disruptors into the protesting crowds, claimed the protests of 2011 turned violent, and never mentioned the six convictions of Walker staffers in Milwaukee County, or the possibility of further indictments due to dealings in Madison.

You know who could have stepped up and refuted those claims? The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. You have the tapes, you witnessed the events, you know about the John Doe convictions. But instead you chose to be a bystander, allowing Walker's lies to go unchallenged. (and Walker's Sunday morning talk show appearance today will probably feature more of these lies, and yet again, the Journal-Sentinel will sit silent when they know the truth).

We have seen reports in other Milwaukee media that illustrate the money-laundering that has been done among right-wing organizations in Wisconsin over the last 2 years, but you have ignored this big story in order to check which officials signed recall petitions. I would ask why you are being so derelict in your duties as a member of the media, but then I remember this factoid.

Journal Communications CEO Steven Smith sits on the Board of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce, which has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Walker campaign in the last 3 years. Journal Communications also made huge profits in Summer 2012 due to recall-related political ads, which means the Scott Walker campaign and right-wing front groups currently under investigation gave your company big bucks.

You have chosen not to harm the golden goose, and therefore, many of us have chosen not to purchase your biased newspaper. We know whose side you are on, and it isn't the 99%ers that make this state run day after day.

Now let me expound on that letter.

1. Why is the Journal-Sentinel using GOP framing on the John Doe case, choosing to smear a judge who performed his right as a citizen to sign a recall petition (and not mentioning that 4 of the 5 DID NOT), instead of discussing the particulars of the case itself? And in today's paper, they run a story trying to imply that John Doe Deux may be a First Amendment "free speech" case. Actually, this case is about money-laundering, as shown in recent articles from the Shepherd Express as well as PR Watch, and it's about right-wing groups trying to get around established tax laws and campaign rules.

2. As mentioned on Friday, the J-S continues to fail in its reporting on the Medicaid and Obamacare issues. This includes not bringing up the fact that taking the expanded Medicaid in Obamacare saves the most state dollars by far, and covers the most Wisconsinites, and that the State Legislature could choose to do so in this week's special session. It also includes the J-S's willful negligence in not mentioning that Gov Walker and other GOP elected officials have tried to sabotage Obamacare's implementation by overloading the insurance exchanges with customers, and refusing to set up state-based exchanges that have proven far more successful in getting people coverage.

3.The J-S has chosen not to cover stories that could be damaging to the Walker Administration, including the accusation from Wisconsin senior groups that Walker's Department of Human Services rigged grants and directed funds to cronies who stood to get big bucks from the awards, and not mentioning Walker's recent fund-raising emails where his campaign told his marks supporters that sending Walker a donation was better than buying kids presents over the Holidays.

We trust media to be the watchers of those in power, but what happens when the watchers need to be watched themselves, because they also benefit from a corrupt system of government, and cannot be trusted to give you the real story? I'm not the only guy angered and troubled by this. Look at how two of our country's most respected news people reacted when 60 Minutes ran their false story on Benghazi a few weeks ago.



Now that's a funny skit, but the underlying point about our failing media is far from funny. This is true in both the DC-New York-based national media, and the Walker stenographers back here in Wisconsin.

Not thankful for another right-wing media fail on Medicaid

We finally got the LFB information on the Special Session bill designed to extend Wisconsin's current Medicaid laws by 3 months, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of surprises with it. The intent is to make sure Wisconsin families with children and incomes between 100-200% of the poverty line continue to get BadgerCare until April 1, to make sure they don't have any gap in coverage between the end of the year and the time that they are able to get coverage through the federal Obamacare exchanges.

The flip side of this bill is that aproximately 83,000 adults without children who have incomes at the poverty line or below won't be able to get Medicaid until April 1, instead of the January 1 date they are currently slated to be able to get coverage. The upshot of this is that you still have tens of thousands of Wisconsinites getting thrown off of Medicaid and onto the federal insurance exchanges between January 1 and April 1.

So what did the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Jason Stein emphasize in his article on the Medicaid bill on Wednesday? He decides to prop up the $23 million in taxpayer "savings" that will result from delaying the Medicaid changes by 3 months. That number comes from the LFB's analysis, which describes the changes this way.

Changes in Special Session Medicaid bill
3 more months of Medicaid for parents +$17.2 million
Delaying eligibility for adults w/o children -$38.9 million
Delays in expanded prison inmate services -$1.4 million
TOTAL CHANGE -$23.1 million

Now to Stein's credit, he mentions in the article that the bill makes the Department of Corrections have to come up with $2.8 million in extra costs to pay for hospital services for inmates. But the article is still written in favor of the Walker Administration, in a classic example of the MMAC's mouthpiece using GOP framing of this issue to make it sound like Gov. Walker is saving taxpayer dollars and covering more people. However, there are other options favored by Democrats that are on the table that would either cover more people, save more money, or do both.

Stein does at least mention one of these options that would sure no one gets the rug yanked out from under them. State Sen. David Cullen wrote a letter to Gov. Walker Wednesday saying that the state should be covering both childless adults and low-income people with children through the end of March. Cullen points out the cruelty of adding 3 months of delay to childless adults, and notes that the state could easily afford to do so.

The proposed three-month delay risks serious health care concerns for 80,000 who already know of a health problem but put off care because they cannot afford it, or may have cancer or a heart problem that they do not know exists because they display no symptoms and have had no insurance to receive regular check-ups. A three-month delay of coverage to our poorest citizens can and will be extremely damaging and even life-threatening to many of these 80,000 Wisconsin residents.

It is clear that the best option available is to accept federal dollars to fund proper care for both of these groups, and I would find a decision to reject federal dollars for only three months to be outrageous. However, even if the legislature decides not to accept federal dollars, we can still afford to fund coverage for both groups with state funds.

In announcing his decision to hold a special session, Governor Walker stated that "we are talking about real people's lives." I could not agree with him more. That is why I believe it is critical that we guarantee proper health care to both of these groups for three months and avoid all the problems that will certainly occur otherwise.

It's also telling that Stein's article doesn't even consider the option that's the best of all worlds- taking Obamacare's expanded Medicaid funding and sticking with it. The LFB estimated in February that taking the federal Medicaid funds would save Wisconsinites $105 million between now and the middle of 2015 vs. what we have today, save $82 million compared to the special session bill, and cover around 60,000 more people (Walker's policy is Scenario 2, taking the expanded Medicaid is Scenario 4A). This is separate from the issue from having the state set up any kind of exchange for insurance, and could be done tomorrow. But Walker and other TeaBags aren't considering taking that common-sense step, even as evidence piles up that expanded Medicaid funding is politically popular, and is covering large amounts of people in the states that have done it.

Not mentioning that expanded Medicaid funding could be on the table is a major tell in the Journal-Sentinel's coverage, and it's especially disappointing to see Stein's coverage be slanted this way, as he was a main member in the Journal-Sentinel team that exposed the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin scandal, and dug down to find its oligarch roots.

What happened to that guy? I haven't heard much on the United Sportsmen story in the last couple of months, even though they have the same funders as the people being named in John Doe Deux. Did Stein get orders from "upstairs" at JournalComm to back off their boy Scotty, and to frame his articles in a way that makes Walker look compassionate as he needlessly throws tens of thousands of Wisconsinites into turmoil with his Medicaid policies? It sure feels like it.

New Philly Fed index out- where's Walker's press release?

Remember how the Walker Administration was blabbing throughout the late Summer about the state's high ranking in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's coincident index that compared the economies of all 50 states? Well, we got the last two months of Philly Fed data today, and interestingly, no press release followed from the Governor's Office. And the numbers show you why, as Wisconsin is back behind a couple of other Midwestern states for growth in this index, and is also below the national rate.

Change in Philly Fed Coincident index, July-Oct 2013
Ind. +1.46%
Ill. +0.96%
U.S. +0.73%
Wis. +0.72%
Minn +0.68%
Mich +0.31%
Iowa +0.26%
Ohio -0.55%

Also interesting is that the Philly Fed index had some revisions, which didn't change Wisconsin's ranking all that much, but seemed to increase Illinois a bit, and dropped Iowa some. But what didn't change is the fact that Wisconsin continues to be the worst economy in the Midwest since Walker and WisGOP came to power in January 2011.



Hmm, wonder if anyone in the national media brought up that record of failure to ol' Scotty on his book tour out East? Somehow, I don't seem to recall the topic being broached- almost like the Walker folks wanted to hide it from people. You know, kinda like how they tried to let this release from the Philly Fed survey go unnoticed, unlike the fluky good numbers they were trying to prop in September.

The good, bad and ugly in senior services

I noticed couple of recent stories on senior services, and it illustrates what could be called the Wisconsin version of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" when it comes to caring for our elders and helping their quality of life.

1. The Good was shown today, as the Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources (GWAAR) propped up Dane County for its added investment in senior services, as shown by the county's addition of a third Elder Benefit Specialist (EBS).

According to Kate Schilling, manager of GWAAR’s Legal Services Team – the agency’s division responsible for training and oversight of EBSs in 65 Wisconsin counties including Dane – the added position will mean that more seniors will get the help they need. “Older people who need this support will greatly benefit from this decision,” says Schilling. “We thank Dane County Executive Parisi and the members of the Dane County Board of Supervisors who voted in support of this funding. We also gratefully acknowledge the efforts of citizen advocates – particularly Aging & Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of Dane County board chair Tom Frazier and Area Agency on Aging (AAA) of Dane County board chair Esther Olson – for their tireless efforts to articulate the need for this position.”

The need for the new position arose from the dramatic increase in the number of people seeking the assistance of the Dane County EBSs. In April 2013, the program experienced a 64% increase in cases compared with April 2012. Increased demand stems largely from economic pressures, population increases, and growing consumer awareness of the program’s ability to help seniors determine eligibility and apply for benefits including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, FoodShare, SeniorCare, Family Care, and BadgerCare. The program also assists seniors with complex legal issues and appeals including landlord/tenant disputes, discrimination, debtor/creditor issues, health care denials, and other related areas. Because more seniors cannot afford representation through private attorneys, many seek support from the EBS program resulting in caseloads growing beyond the program’s ability to keep up.

This is an example of a local government believing it is a priority to meet the growing needs that elders are having, and finding a way to assist in meeting that need. The EBS is also a civil service position, whose job is to answer to clients and the need for services, and not be a political hack who lets other motives get in the way of helping these Wisconsnites

2. The bad Contrast to another story that came up last week, and one that got several relays when I mentioned it on Twitter. Former GWAAR Board Chair and President Ken Mosentine collaborated with Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups (CWAG) to write a letter to Governor Scott Walker's office, claiming members of his Administration have rigged and mismanaged elder care grants. Interestingly, CWAG claimed GWAAR officials had a conflict of interest in getting certain grants, and alleged current and former officials in the Department of Health Services (DHS) aided this questionable behavior.

In the case of Walker's former political appointees at MCDA, Stephanie Sue Stein falsified her Economic Interest Statement over the last five years by lying and covering up the fact that she is the Corporate Vice President of a Wisconsin based privately-held, non-stock Corporation called the; "WI Assoc. of Area Agency on Aging Directors Inc. (Wis4A's)." According to the Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions, Stephanie Stein, is the Corporate Vice President of Wis4A's, along with the Executive Director of GWAAR - Robert Kellerman, who is the Corporate President of Wis4A's. According to documents obtained in cooperation with Dane County officials, Kellerman and Stein would invoice their own government agencies and Dane County and have them pay membership dues into their privately held, non-stock corporation. Their actions are a not only a "conflict of interest," according to county ordinances and state/federal laws but are in fact illegal under the federal guidelines of the Federal Acquisition Regulation Act (FAR) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Emails and other documents CWAG was able to obtain, reveals Ms. Stein and Mr. Kellerman, conspired with Governor Walker's political appointees at DHS ([current director] Kitty Rhoades, [former director] Dennis Smith, [former legal counsel and alleged Dennis Smith paramour] Mary Spear) when they politically targeted and financially retaliated against CWAG - when they wrongfully and indefensibly removed $1.3 million of multi-year governmental grants from CWAG - without due process and without justifiable cause. This was done, under the cover of an unfounded DHS Audit of CWAG....

In his letter to Governor Walker, [former GWAAR Board Chair and President Ken] Mosentine closed with; "Governor Walker, it is now time for you to stand by your public condemnation of President Obama and embrace your religious values you proudly articulated in your new book - by taking these action steps, which will help you restore the public trust in your administration. This is your Moment of Truth Governor Walker, for you and your administration. The choice is clearly yours - Politics as Usual or Moral Leadership."

Sorry Ken, but given Scotty's track record, I bet he goes with Politics as Usual, especially the corrupt brand followed since 2011 in this state. Amazingly, I have yet to see a word written about these accusations in either the Wisconsin State Journal or the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, despite the story happening nearly a week ago. Is it an inconvenient truth for those Walker-endorsing papers.

3. And I want to combine these two topics into what makes up The Ugly. GWAAR mentioned in their letter to Dane County that many elderly need Medicaid services in order to get by, but many of them are being prevented from getting these needed services because Walker chose to go along with ideological hacks like Dennis Smith and Mary Spear, and refused Obamacare's expanded Medicaid funding. But interestingly, there are still more Wisconsinites (elderly and otherwise) that might get these services in 2014, because the feds indicated that over 10,700 Wisconsinites were told they were eligible for Medicaid services after looking into Obamacare services (see Page 10 of this federal report from earlier this month). Obviously, many of those that will ultimately use the Medicaid services are elderly, or soon will be, and you have to wonder how many more would be helped if Walker wasn't choosing to throw tens of thousands of Wisconsinites onto the federal exchanges?

And for what end has Walker's decision on Mediciad been for, other than to claim that he's "innovative" to ignorant media on his East Coast book tour, and to gain the approval of the Kochs and brain-dead Baggers? To care so little about Wisconsin citizens that Walker would rather they suffer due to unnecessarily substandard care over trying to work with Obamacare is truly ugly, and a dereliction of duty that cannot be repeated to the public enough.

Then compare it to what's happening in Joe Parisi's Dane County, where senior services are given a priority and jobs and funds are being invested to improve those outcomes, and it speaks of the different direction that can be chosen statewide when it comes to our seniors and the care they need. Voters just have to choose to end the Age of Fitzwalkerstan next year, and install a governOR and a governMENT that gives a crap about something other than right-wing political poses.