Walker: Wisconsin absolutely made the right decision (not to build an exchange). After looking at all options, a majority of governors, both Democrat and Republican, chose not to do so. A state exchange would have been state-run in name only with dictates coming from the federal government. Wisconsin taxpayers would have been on the hook. There are plenty of examples of problems with state exchanges…
Wisconsin also made the right decision by choosing an innovative approach to Obamacare. Unlike other states, we did not accept the false choice of the federal government. According to the respected Kaiser Family Foundation, Wisconsin is the only state in the country — among those who did not take the (Medicaid) expansion — that does not have a coverage gap. We provide health care access to everyone living in poverty, help transition those above poverty into the marketplace, reduce the number of uninsured and limit the future risk to Wisconsin taxpayers.
Burke: As governor, I am going to focus on reducing the cost of health insurance. Bringing Wisconsin taxpayer money back to Wisconsin helps do this and is common sense. Scott Walker’s decision was fiscally irresponsible and political. He cost the state millions of dollars and made health care less affordable.
When people lose their health care, they don’t stop getting sick — we just end up footing the bill for it. Accepting the (Medicaid) expansion would have saved $119 million in this budget, brought in an additional $2.4 billion in federal funding through 2021, and insured 84,700 more people. Now, we face a $93 million shortfall in our Medicaid budget. With our own online insurance marketplace, we could have negotiated with insurers to hold down prices. Obamacare has problems that need to be fixed, but we have to hold down healthcare costs to become a thriving, top ten economy.
Via Gov. Scott Walker and Mary Burke on the Affordable Care Act @ JS All Politics Blog.