Once again, Gov. Walker is showing that he wants to make it harder for lower-to-middle class Wisconsin residents to receive public assistance.
Under a new proposal, Gov. Walker plans to have childless adults screened for drug use and pay premiums for Wisconsin’s medicaid program.
According to the Journal Times, this is an unprecedented move
Wisconsin would be the first state with mandatory drug screening for Medicaid enrollees, said Robin Rudowitz, a Medicaid expert with the Kaiser Family Foundation. Walker has also announced plans to drug test able-bodied adults seeking food stamps and unemployment payments.
Public hearings on the Medicaid proposal will take place in Wausau on April 26 and Milwaukee on May 1.
Under the proposal, adults without dependent children who seek BadgerCare, the state’s main Medicaid program, would have to submit to drug testing if screening called for it. Those who refuse testing would go six months without coverage. Those who test positive could enroll in BadgerCare and would be referred to treatment.
Enrollees with annual individual incomes of $2,412 to $12,060, the cutoff for BadgerCare, would have to pay monthly premiums of $1 to $10. For those who engage in healthy behaviors, the amount would be halved.
In other proposed changes, childless adults would face higher premiums if they didn’t complete a health risk assessment.
For more, visit Journal Times.
