La Crosse Hearing Friday on Proposed Medicaid Cuts

Many questions still unanswered, but more details expected this week

As we reported previously, the Department of Health Services held hearings last Wednesday and Friday in Milwaukee and Madison on their proposals for cutting more than $500 million from Medicaid and BadgerCare. We appreciate that DHS held two hearings, although their proposals are still sketchy in many areas and leave so many unanswered questions that it has been impossible for many participants in the programs to know how they will be affected. (See WCCF's 3-page list of key questions.)

Thus far, the chairs of the Senate and Assembly health committees haven’t agreed to hold any public hearings on the controversial proposals, but some Democrats are beginning to make plans for their own meetings to inform and involve the public. The first of those hearings will be hosted in La Crosse this Friday, October 28, by Senator Jennifer Shilling. It will be from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and will be held in Room 337 in the Cartwright Center at UW La Crosse (1725 State Street). 

Additional hearings are being considered in a number of other communities, including Eau Claire, Green Bay, Oshkosh and Wausau. We’ll follow up with information on those hearings or other public forums as they are scheduled.

Sound Familiar? – Illinois struggling with decisions related to juvenile correctional institution while federal cuts proposed endanger the progress that has been made

While Wisconsin made the leap to consolidate its juvenile correctional institutions, Illinois is struggling with similar issues. Throughout the nation, approximately 50 secure juvenile centers/programs have closed in 18 states, and the state of Illinois and some counties are facing the tough decisions about how best to deploy resources when there has been a significant decline in youth arrests and incarcerations.

This is being played out at the state level as well as the local level, as the DuPage County Juvenile Center has been the focus of debate now for months – a declining population and the potential to save money has placed one of the premier juvenile detention programs in jeopardy.

At the same time, cuts being proposed in Congress for juvenile justice funds endanger the progress that has been made in states and counties in developing successful prevention and intervention programs that have contributed to the decline in youth arrests and victimization. It is problematic when the rhetoric about what does not work (investing in prisons and incarceration) seems to outweigh the evidence about what does work (strategic, evidence-based, community-based programs) for almost all youthful offenders. 

Jim Moeser

Good News on Teen Birthrates and Abortion Rates – and Bills that Could Aid or Harm that Progress

Teen birthrates have been dropping in Milwaukee, and abortion rates have also been decreasing statewide. These two positive outcomes point to policies that have increased adolescents’ awareness about how to prevent unplanned pregnancies and increased access to contraception and reproductive healthcare through BadgerCare’s Family Planning Only Services (FPOS). Although progress is being made, recent actions in the Legislature threaten to reverse these positive trends. According to 2011-2013 budget stipulations, the Department of Health Services (DHS) is requesting a federal waiver to lower the income eligibility for and bar men from FPOS. Additionally, a new bill, SB 237, has been introduced and is moving in the Legislature to reinstate abstinence-only education in Wisconsin schools, repealing the Healthy Youth Act which provides comprehensive sex education to students. However, there are also better alternatives in the Legislature, particularly the Healthy Women, Healthy Families bills, a set of measures restoring FPOS to its eligibility standards prior to the 2011-2013 budget.

New Report on the State of Juvenile Justice in Wisconsin

The State of Juvenile Justice in Wisconsin: What do We Really Know?” released today examines recent trends in juvenile arrests and incarceration in the state, as well as the success of recent community-based alternatives to secure confinement of youth offenders and includes these highlights:


• The number of juvenile arrests in Wisconsin has declined by 42% over the last decade, and the juvenile arrest rate has gone down by 37% over that span.
• The number of arrests of juveniles in the state for violent offenses has declined by 17.5% over the past five years.
• The average daily population in the juvenile correctional facilities has declined by 70% over the decade.
• Racial disparities remain significant at all stages of the juvenile justice system.
• The number and effectiveness of community-based alternatives to incarceration and the use of research-based practice throughout the juvenile justice system have increased

Check out the report and keep in mind the WCCF recommendations to:

• Return 17-year-olds to the juvenile system, since the juvenile system is proving to be effective, has the capacity to handle it, and would avoid the unnecessary harm youth experience from being in the adult system;
• Reaffirm what is working with youthful offenders, such as local approaches that keep youth in their own communities; and
• Reinvest savings from reduced use of incarceration to support the continued expansion of evidence-based, cost-effective community alternatives to confinement                                  by Jim Moeser

DHS Schedules Two Town Hall Meetings on Medicaid & BadgerCare Cuts

Forums Set for Oct. 19 in Madison & Oct. 21 in West Allis

The Department of Health Services announced Friday that it is holding two town hall meetings this week on the 39 initiatives the department outlined in late September for cutting a projected $554 million from Medicaid and BadgerCare. To learn more about the proposed cost-cutting measures, see WCCF’s new webpage, which provides links to the DHS proposals and to our analyses of those proposed changes, including our concerns about some of the likely consequences for BadgerCare.

The two hearings that were announced Friday will be in Madison and Milwaukee (West Allis).

What’s the Process for Implementing $554 Million of Medicaid Cuts?

Seven months ago, the Wisconsin Legislature hurriedly passed a bill giving the Department of Health Services (DHS) sweeping authority to rewrite the laws governing Medicaid and BadgerCare. On September 30, DHS finally unveiled a lengthy outline of its plans for cutting $554 million from the state’s Medicaid programs. Those plans include 39 initiatives, and you can find our preliminary summary of those plans and some of the likely consequences on the WCCF website.

The most frequent questions I get about the department’s proposals concern the procedural steps that lie ahead:  Do some of the proposals need to be reviewed by the legislature? If so, what will that timetable be?  Will there be any public hearings?  Do any of the changes require rulemaking?  What’s the role of the federal government in reviewing and approving the proposed changes?  Unfortunately, I can’t answer all of those questions, but I take a stab in this blog post at summarizing what we know at this point about the process for review and approval of the DHS plans.

Check out our analysis of the proposed Medicaid and BadgerCare cuts

Sara Eskrich and I have been busy analyzing and summarizing the long list of proposals recently unveiled by the Department of Health Services (DHS) to cut $554 million from Medicaid and BadgerCare. We have completed a preliminary analysis, which you can find on the WCCF website. It outlines the changes relating to eligibility, benefits, payment reform, and service delivery, and includes some preliminary thoughts about the consequences of these changes.  Check it out!

Unfortunately, there are scores of unanswered questions about details of the DHS proposals. We will update our 6-page analysis as DHS answers some of those questions and as people like you send us your perspectives on the proposals. Check our website for revisions.

We worked with the Save BadgerCare Coalition (SBC) to help produce a condensed, one-page document that summarizes the BadgerCare portions of the DHS proposals, including potential effects of those changes, and we’ll put a link to that on our website soon. In the meantime, you can find that summary attached to a Save BadgerCare press release issued yesterday.

Jon Peacock

Committee Vote Tuesday on Bill Remedying Wisconsin’s Noncompliance with Part of the Health Care Reform Law

The Assembly Committee on Insurance will hold an executive session Tuesday (Oct. 11) to vote on AB 210, which would put into state law a number of health insurance reforms in the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) – at least on a temporary basis. The bill was introduced by the committee chairman, Rep. Petersen, and is being pushed by insurance companies.

Insurers are concerned that Wisconsin’s failure to comply with the federal law means that consumers will be able to take their grievances to two different independent appeal boards – one at the state level and one at the federal level – and could get conflicting rulings. An article in this morning’s Kaiser Health News says that Wisconsin is one of 16 states that don’t meet new requirements under the federal health law for consumers to appeal health plans’ decisions to a third party, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and it helps explains why insurers are concerned.

DHS Plans First Hearing on One Part of Proposed Medicaid Changes

Oct. 12 Town Hall Meeting in Madison on “Virtual PACE”

It’s still unclear if there will be any public hearings on the proposals recently unveiled by the Department of Health Services (DHS) to substantially change BadgerCare for low-income Wisconsinites. (A WCCF summary of the proposed BadgerCare and Medicaid changes was posted online today.)

However, there will be public forums on at least one part of the long list of proposed Medicaid reforms. The department announced last Thursday that it plans to hold several town hall meetings on the proposal known as “Virtual PACE,” beginning with a town hall meeting in Madison on Wednesday afternoon, starting at 2:00:

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

2:00 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.

WHERE: Goodman Community Center

149 Waubesa St., Evjue Community Room D

Madison, 53704