Governor Tony Evers hosts a roundtable in Wausau. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — Governor Tony Evers hosted a roundtable discussion at the Community Partners Campus to hear how the three-week-old Government shutdown is impacting healthcare providers.
Much of the discussion focused on the impact of the federal shutdown and what it could mean for health care access across Wisconsin. Evers says restoring the tax credits is key and that losing them could have a ripple effect beyond just those covered by the Affordable Care Act.
“There’s connection with that decision with a whole bunch of other things too,” Evers added, “It’s gonna make life worse in a whole bunch of other areas besides just the ACA.”
Health care leaders at the discussion also raised concerns about how cuts could hit working families the hardest.
They shared that more than 40% of Marathon County’s residents in the working class and over 540,000 kids on Badger Care statewide are at risk.
“That’s a lot of impact. So if those rates go up, subsidies go away, what really is going to happen is we’re going to become an even more unhealthier America. Is that what we really want?” says Judi Smith, More Than Food Specialist at the Neighbors Place.
Evers says this shouldn’t be a partisan issue, calling on republicans to back the same support they once did.
“Republicans supported it in the past; they should be able to support it again,” Evers said. “This is a national issue and if we don’t get this squared away, there’s a boomerang of other issues. We paid them to work, let’s get them to work. This is pretty simple.”
To them, the concern comes down to affordability and how much longer working families can shoulder rising health care costs.
“The people that are trying to make a living can not simply afford to pay more,” Smith added,” It affects every American.”
The governor’s office plans to release official numbers soon, outlining how this could impact communities across Wisconsin.
Comments