#badger care

[wausaupilotreview]

A letter is coming to thousands of Marathon County mailboxes in the next few weeks. Ignore it, and you could lose your health coverage — even if you still qualify. Here's who's affected and what to do when it arrives.

About 3,500 Marathon County adults must prove they work to keep BadgerCare — and the first letters land within weeks

[groins]

Dang in 3 days I'm gonna have health insurance. That just set in. Can't wait to get my teeth fixed, my back cracked, and go back to the dermatologist.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

On Wednesday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker held a press conference touting that he was going to lift a cap on enrollment in Family Care, a state program designed to keep the elderly and disabled out of nursing homes. Good for him, right?

However, it turns out that Walker not only imposed the cap in the first place, but that he was ordered by federal health officials:

Federal health officials have quietly ordered Gov. Scott Walker to lift an enrollment cap and expand state programs designed to keep elderly and disabled people out of nursing homes.

Walker made no mention of the order at a news conference he called Wednesday morning to announce he wants to lift the cap. He told reporters only that health officials in his administration have been talking with Family Care providers for months. Together, they have identified $80 million in efficiencies over the next two years that will enable his administration to end the enrollment cap and expand the programs to the 15 counties that currently don't offer them.

The move could open the door for thousands of people to join the programs — but it also represents a stark reversal for Walker. The Republican governor has been pushing to rein in Medicaid costs for months and imposed the cap in Family Care enrollment in the state budget.

h/t: Chris Bowers at Daily Kos