Gov. Walker is asking the Legislature for three more months. He wants to extend the state’s timeline for moving people off BadgerCare and into the federal government’s new private marketplace.
Around 80,000 residents are in danger of losing the state health coverage in January, if lawmakers do not extend the deadline.
Gov. Walker had initially planned to move adults earning more than poverty onto the federal health care exchange come January. However, the application process has been fraught with technical problems.
So far, only about 900 people from Wisconsin have been able to sign up.
“I’m not gonna let the failures of the federal government bring down people who are caught in between systems that just aren’t working right now,” Walker says.
Walker expects lawmakers to vote on the extension after Thanksgiving. One Republican leader expects the Legislature to approve the plan; another prefers a month-to-month extension.
