Last week on tax day, April 15, as many Wisconsinites filed their taxes, health care advocates gathered in a protest against Governor Walker’s rejection of federal Medicaid dollars for BadgerCare at a US Post Office in downtown Milwaukee.
The protest hosted by Citizen Action and Protect Your Care urged Governor Walker to be responsible and accept the billions in federal funds available for BadgerCare, asking him to think about Wisconsin’s working poor before his own political aspirations and partisan politics.
Citizen Action Executive Director Robert Kraig, State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa and Jennifer Epps-Addison of Wisconsin Jobs Now spoke at the event.
The speakers highlighted the disservice being done to Wisconsin citizens with Walker’s failure to expand the Medicaid program giving billions of Wisconsin taxpayer dollars to other states.
Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin said, “These federal tax dollars are an investment in the health of our citizens and the stability of the health market.
By irresponsibly refusing these federal funds for BadgerCare, Walker is committing fiscal malpractice.”
To demonstrate the costs of this policy failure, Citizen Action presented a check for $2.4 billion tax refund for BadgerCare for Wisconsin citizens.
The speakers also praised the healthcare law overall, while being critical of the Walker administration for failing to expand Medicaid and refusing to give access to affordable coverage to more Wisconsinites.
In the wake of Governor Walkers rejection federal Medicaid funds, not only is Wisconsin losing billions of dollars but also more than 77,000 people were kicked off of BadgerCare on April 1.
“More than 8 million people have gained access to care through the health insurance marketplace,” said Jason Rae of Protect Your Care Wisconsin.
“We have an opportunity to keep more Wisconsin taxpayer dollars in our state and cover even more Wisconsinites through Badgercare if Governor Walker would accept federal funds.”