Walker errs on health care facts in debate

Madison — Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker inaccurately described the state's health care program for the poor this week - saying it was originally a temporary program when in fact it never was.
Walker, a Republican running for governor, in a debate Wednesday also said the program, called BadgerCare Plus, faces "all kinds of football jerseys fraud and abuse," but rampant fraud has not been identified.
On Thursday, Walker said he did not want to put time limits on BadgerCare Plus, as he appeared to indicate in the debate a day earlier. Walker said Thursday he was open to tightening income eligibility for the program, however.
Walker wasn't the only one to make a questionable statement in the debate. Former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, Walker's opponent in the Sept. 14 Republican primary, said he wanted to take $810 million meant for a high-speed rail line from Milwaukee to Madison and use the money for tax cuts. But that money has been earmarked by Congress for rail and state officials have repeatedly said if Wisconsin doesn't take the money it will go to another state for its rail projects.
Walker said he improperly described BadgerCare Plus because candidates have to give short answers in debates. He said Thursday he opposed Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's slight loosening of time limits on Wisconsin Works, or W-2, the state's welfare-to-work program. He said he believed allowing people to receive benefits longer had the effect of keeping people on BadgerCare Plus longer, and that was the point he was trying to make in the debate.
But the number of people on W-2 is just a fraction of those on BadgerCare Plus. About 772,000 people are enrolled in BadgerCare Plus, while fewer than 15,000 participate in W-2.
BadgerCare Plus serves poor people and is part of Medicaid, a health care program paid by state and federal taxpayers. Walker and Neumann said they supported trimming BadgerCare Plus, but did not discuss cuts to other Medicaid programs that serve the disabled and elderly.
"It was supposed to be a temporary step up as they moved into permanent employment," Walker said of reebok nfl jersey BadgerCare Plus in the debate. "Instead, under this governor, we've had the time limits go away and we see a permanent entitlement created, and that's brought about all kinds of fraud and abuse and problems not only there but in the child care component as well. That will stop when I'm governor."
But BadgerCare Plus and its precursor never included time limits. Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle expanded the program in 2007 but did not make changes affecting how long someone could be on the program. The program costs more than $1 billion a year, with the federal government paying 60% or more.
About half of BadgerCare Plus recipients have been in the program for more than two years, state records show. Almost 400,000 of them are working or are the spouse or child of someone who is working, according to state figures.
Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson created BadgerCare in 1997 as he overhauled welfare. It was meant to ensure low-income workers and their families would have health care. As a member of the Assembly at the time, Walker voted for it.
The hope was that most people would eventually move into jobs that would provide health care, but officials knew there would always be some who weren't able to find such a job or who wouldn't find one for years, said Joe Leann, a Republican who served as Thompson's health and family services secretary at the time.
"There was no time limit envisioned," Leann said. "BadgerCare was intended to be there for however long (low-income) people were working jobs that didn't We need low-income families to stay healthy . . . provide health care. and productive."
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the major Democrat in the race, declined to participate in the debate but pounced Thursday on Walker's comments.
"There Scott Walker goes again, saying anything to try to get elected," Barrett said in a statement. "For someone who voted for BadgerCare, Walker knows full well his campaign claims are just plain false."
Barrett has proposed trimming $200 million from BadgerCare Plus by insisting participants are more cost-conscious, but a Journal Sentinel review last month found that would be incredibly difficult to achieve.
Walker did not provide a source for claiming there was "all kinds of fraud and abuse" in BadgerCare Plus, but said Thursday he nfl jersey authentic was talking about inefficiencies and waste as well as fraud.
In 2008, the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau analyzed 9.4 million Medicaid payments from fiscal year 2006 and found fewer than 100 that were questionable. They were worth $268,000, a small fraction of the $4.2 billion spent on Medicaid that year.
Democrats in the Legislature, however, have blocked a move by Republicans to have auditors specifically look into Medicaid fraud.