A Side Bar On Why Governor Walker Turned Down The Medicaid Money

This is going to be shooting from the hip without double checking the facts…so if I got my timeline wrong let me know:

Before the 2012 Presidential election, Governor Walker delayed making a decision on setting up a Wisconsin Health Exchange or deferring to the federal government. Certainly he expected Mitt Romney to carry the day and the creation of exchanges would be a moot point. But President Obama won and the indecisive governor decided the feds should run the Wisconsin exchange.

Now comes the decision on whether to accept the extra Medicaid dollars to fill the gaps between the current Medicaid recipients and those eligible for tax credits to pay for their health insurance on the exchanges.

Well the governor declined the extra Medicaid money…because he couldn’t be sure the federal government would be able to fulfill it’s financial commitment in the future. We all went pshaw and poppycock at the time and couldn’t believe our ears. But just maybe our governor is the eternal optimist and expects that a President Walker or similarly minded GOP candidate will retake the White House in 2016…and dismantle Medicaid as we know it…voila…self-fulfilling prophecy!

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