Wisconsin GOP senators stand against expanding BadgerCare Plus under Obamacare

MADISON - Republican state senators made clear Tuesday they are all but certain to block Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' plan to expand BadgerCare Plus under Obamacare.

In the state budget he will introduce next week, Evers plans to accept more federal Medicaid money to make BadgerCare available to 76,000 more people. The plan would free up $280 million in state money over two years that could be used for other purposes. 

Republicans who control the Legislature are not on board with that idea.

"I think all of us have made it very clear that we do not and will not support Medicaid expansion," Republican Sen. Chris Kapenga of Delafield said Tuesday.

He was joined at a Capitol news conference by GOP Sens. Dave Craig of Big Bend and Duey Stroebel of Saukville, who like Kapenga have criticized Obamacare.

Republicans control the Senate 19-14 and are expected to finalize the budget without Democratic support.

Republicans need 17 votes to pass a budget through the Senate, and they will be short of that number if Craig, Kapenga and Stroebel oppose it. 

Craig and Kapenga said they would never draw definitive lines on what they would and wouldn't support in the state budget, but made plain they viewed the Obamacare expansion with great suspicion. 

Craig, Kapenga and Stroebel have shown their willingness to flex their political muscles in the past.

The last state budget was held up in part by opposition from Craig, Kapenga, Stroebel and GOP Sen. Steve Nass of Whitewater. Republicans controlled all of state government at that time and the budget was approved after Kapenga, Nass and Stroebel reached a deal with then-Gov. Scott Walker on vetoes. (Craig voted against that budget.)

Craig, Kapenga and Stroebel were at Tuesday's news conference to tout a study by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy. 

That review concluded expanding BadgerCare would cost the state $600 million a year because it would drive up costs for people with private insurance. The report also found the expansion would increase visits to emergency rooms based on data from other states that have expanded Medicaid.

Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling of La Crosse called the report biased and a form of political posturing.

“There is overwhelming public support for Gov. Evers’ plan to accept federal Medicaid funding, expand access to affordable health care and save Wisconsin taxpayers millions of dollars," she said in a statement.

Complicating matters for Evers: Craig, Kapenga and Stroebel aren't alone. Many other GOP lawmakers — including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester — have fought Obamacare and pledged not to use it to expand BadgerCare.

In a Tuesday appearance at Marquette University Law School, Evers argued the public is on his side and believed people would put pressure on GOP lawmakers to expand BadgerCare. 

"I believe there's a reason we call it the people's budget," Evers said. "This is one of them."

"The people frankly that are part of the system support it," he said of BadgerCare expansion. "The people shut out of the system support it."