After nearly three hours of heated debate, the Wisconsin Senate approved Thursday the creation of a health insurance option to accommodate those on the waiting list for the BadgerCare Plus Core program.
The BadgerCare Basic plan will offer minimal health care coverage to qualifying low-income adults for a premium of $130 per month, making the program self-sufficient. The vote, 17 to 16, came on slim party lines, save for Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, who joined Republicans in voting against the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, voiced his opinion that this bill is not necessary because private sector insurance companies offer inexpensive services that would offer similar coverage to the Basic plan.
The bill’s co-author, Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, dismissed the accessibility of private insurance, saying the reason about 25,000 residents are on the waiting list for the BadgerCare Plus Core plan is because they have no other affordable option.
“We are not saying to those 25,000, ‘You need to do this, you can’t go to private insurance.’ We are saying, ‘If you want to get together as a group, then you can get coverage,'” Erpenbach said. “It is disingenuous to say there are options when you look at the waiting list.”
Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, agreed with the need to help those on the waiting list, saying the Basic plan would serve as a transitional plan until membership to the Core Plus program opens up.
Many Republicans also argued the premium payment of $130 would not provide enough funding to sustain the program and cover members’ medical bills, especially members with serious medical needs.
“If you took that plan and you walk it into [The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance], they would laugh you out of the building because there would not be enough funds to support claims,” Sen. Ted Kanavas, R-Brookfield, said.
Kanavas and Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, also raised the issue that if the funding were not sufficient, then the state would leave residents needing health care without coverage.
“I do hope that we… make sure we know what we are getting into,” Olsen said. “We would all look relatively silly passing something that makes us feel good but at the end of the day really screws the people who sign up for this.”
However, Erpenbach and other Democrats were adamant the program would not cost the state any money due to the funding from premium payments.
Republicans also said citizens do not want government-controlled health care but instead want something done to lower the costs of private insurance. In particular, Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said there have been talks with insurance agencies to work out low-cost alternatives.
Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, criticized legislators against the bill, saying they were hypocritical because they have access to quality health care.
“[Health care] is more basic than anything. This [bill] is not a panacea, but it allows us to bridge a gap in coverage,” Taylor said. “This program isn’t perfect, but I don’t know what we do in the Legislature that is. Don’t let perfect be an enemy of good.”
