Posted on 01/21/2012 7:04:58 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
Madison - Gov. Scott Walker's administration is returning a nearly $11 million federal grant that could have helped make cost-saving improvements to existing health programs for the poor.
The money was part of a larger federal package that was given to Wisconsin to implement the federal health care law passed by Congress and President Barack Obama in 2010. After receiving criticism from conservatives that he was helping implement "ObamaCare," Walker said this week that the state would return the money and stop the implementation.
But that announcement didn't highlight the $11 million, which would have gone toward improving enrollment systems for existing state Medicaid health programs for the poor. It would have helped pay for some improvements to BadgerCare Plus Medicaid programs that the Walker administration had wanted to pursue anyway because state officials say they would save taxpayers money.
Supporters of the federal health law say the Walker administration let ideology and distaste for the federal law trump common sense by turning down millions of dollars that could have saved the state money in areas beyond the health care law.
~snip~
The attention focused on the fact that Walker was returning $37.6 million that would have gone for setting up a so-called health exchange - a marketplace for individuals and small businesses to buy insurance coverage under the federal law.
Under the federal law, Wisconsin must prove to the federal government by Jan. 1, 2013, that the state is prepared to implement its own exchange plan. Otherwise, the federal government will impose its plan here in 2014.
Walker has long opposed the federal law, but for a time last year the governor had said that he wanted the state to develop its own plan for the marketplace so Wisconsin would have more control over how the law is implemented.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
If you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list just FReep Mail me.
Taking money from the Feds doesn’t come without strings.
Sometimes the strings are too offensive.
Oh, but, but, the Chill-run??
The ‘feds’ would have no money if it wasn’t for that which they take from the states through personal and corporate income taxes. The federal government should receive the least amount of money of all types of government in the US. It’s centralized, and therefore should be smaller, and thus require substantially less money than it does.
>>which would have gone toward improving enrollment systems for existing state Medicaid health programs for the poor
Using taxpayer dollars to help the genuinely needy is acceptable. Using taxpayer dollars to actively pursue “new” poor people to add to the rolls of the gummint-dependent is despicable.
If someone is too lazy or stupid to recognize that they are poor and need help, then we should let Darwinism take it’s course.
Walker saw the money as a poison pill and had the courage to say “no thanks”. RINOs, on the other hand would have done just the opposite.
Both were passed by corrupted legislative assemblies and granted plenary powers without exactly saying so.
A lot credit should go to this group: http://www.wisconsin912project.org/ Their “No Strings” campaign help turn the tide on this.
WTF??? [underlines mine]
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