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In his effort to be the "not Chris Christie" of the Republican 2016 race, Wisconsin Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is attempting to not expand Medicaid while still keeping the state's low income residents insured. In February, when he announced that the state plan to not accept federal funds to expand the program, Walker said the plan was "to get more people out into the workplace, more people covered when it comes to health care and fewer people dependent on the government, not because we've kicked them out, but we've empowered them to take control of their own destiny." The state's Republican-led legislature approved the budget in June.
So what's his game plan?
Currently, Wisconsin's Medicaid program — BadgerCare — accepts people making 200 percent of the poverty level, though the program caps how many people are in the program, creating a waiting list. Walker's plan undoes that cap, which will open up BadgerCare to 83,000 people, but he'll lower the income level to 100 percent of the poverty level, or $11,490. That kicks out 77,500 people, forcing them on to the exchanges.
The good news is that, unlike a few other states that declined to expand Medicaid, that 77,500 wouldn't be caught in the limbo of being too "well off" for Medicaid but too poor for subsidies on the exchanges.