President Obama’s health care reform will shave $745 million to $980 million from Wisconsin’s costs, according to estimates that the state issued last week. http://www.jsonline.com/business/94933334.html
The Badger State will benefit because the federal government will soon be paying a much larger share of the cost of insuring residents that have low incomes. Last Wednesday was the first time the state has offered any insight as to how much money the new federal legislation will save for it.
Wisconsin’s state health insurance programs, including BadgerCare Plus, are rather generous, offering broader coverage than other states. That’s one reason why the state has one of the lowest rates of uninsured people in the nation, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
And under Obama’s overhaul of the nation’s health care law, a larger part of the cost of Wisconsin’s insurance programs will now be paid by the federal government.
The new federal legislation plans to increase the numbers of those with health-insurance coverage by expanding Medicaid programs and subsidizing insurance for those with low- to middle-class salaries whos don’t get health insurance through an employer.
Wisconsin released its estimates in the wake of a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which projected how federal health care reform was going to impact states by raising their costs.
State officials wanted to make it clear that regarding Wisconsin, the Kaiser report didn’t factor in the funds the state will save because it currently is offering health-insurance coverage for many low-income residents.
Wisconsin’s BadgerCare Plus program is providing health insurance to 769,525 low-income residents, and to 188,000 elderly residents through Medicaid.
