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Evers Calls Special Session on Medicaid Expansion
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 19, 2021
From WisPolitics.com …
— Gov. Tony Evers, rebuffed multiple times by Republican lawmakers over expanding Medicaid, today announced a special session to take up covering an additional 90,000 Wisconsinites through the program.
To up the pressure on GOP lawmakers, Evers announced $850 million in projects, including economic development work, he said would be covered by the additional $1 billion the expansion would draw. The rest of the money would go into the budget stabilization fund, he said.
During a news conference in Middleton, Evers signed an executive order calling the special session May 25. Evers can call a special session, but can’t force the Legislature to meet and take up the proposal.
Evers’ budget accounted for an additional $1.4 billion in federal money that would be generated over the biennium to help cover the costs of providing coverage for an additional 90,000 people. It also accounted for $634 million in general-purpose revenue savings over two years that would result from expansion.
Since Evers announced his budget, the federal government approved a COVID-19 relief package that included a $1 billion sweetener to encourage states like Wisconsin that haven’t expanded Medicaid to make the move.
The economic development projects Evers announced today would be covered by those one-time funds.
Today’s announcement comes after the GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee already rejected Evers’ call to expand the program and pulled it from the budget.
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