WisPolitics Budget Blog

Republicans are saying Gov. Doyle is engaging in "scare tactics" with his contingency plan to cut Medicaid expenditures by 20 percent until a budget is adopted.

Rep. Rhoades called the move "the biggest political trick we've ever seen."

"I think it's shameful that we go out and scare seniors and we scare the needy," she said.

Republicans point to a memo from Legislative Fiscal Bureau director Bob Lang. In the memo Lang writes, "the amount budgeted for MA benefits in the 2006-07 fiscal year is available to support MA benefits in 2007-08 and each subsequent year until a new funding level is established through legislation.

See the memo here.

Labels: Medicaid

Multiple people have testified in support of the expansion of BadgerCare and FamilyCare as proposed in the governor's budget, and for the governor's proposed increase to Youth Aids funding for counties.

The district court administrator for western Wisconsin called for support of reimbursement increases for counties to provide court interpreter services.

The administrator of the Dunn County Health Care Center asked for a 5 percent increase per year in MA funding for nursing homes. Gov. Doyle's budget includes a 2 percent increase. The administrator also voiced his opposition for bed tax increases for nursing homes.

Rep. Kitty Rhoades, co-chair of the committee, gave the originality award to a woman who testified in support of funding for managed intensive grazing, a method of farming that emphasizes sustainable practices.

Bart Appleton, a 7th grade teacher from Prescott, testified in favor of Doyle's proposal to repeal the QEO.

Mark Tyler, president of steel fabricators OEM, urged support for the state's technical colleges. He said his company's "growth is only limited by our ability to find highly skilled workers."

Labels: BadgerCare, Bed tax, FamilyCare, Health Care, Medicaid, QEO, UW System

The Neillsville School District superintendent said he is happy with Gov. Doyle's proposal to increase aids for special education, bilingual education funding and school transportation aids, but said overall the governor's education budget doesn't go far enough.

Ken Yost, of the Barron County Economic Development Association, asked the committee to support the governor's proposal to boost funding for the Wisconsin West Rail Transit Authority, and also asked for Department of Transportation bonding authority for WWRTA.

As with last week's hearing in DeForest, a large group of high school-age kids is at the meeting today dressed in bright orange long-sleeved t-shirts. They are representing Fighting Against Corporate Tobacco, and they urge the JFC to support Gov. Doyle's proposal to increase the $1.25 per pack increase for cigarettes and to increase funding for smoking cessation and avoidance programs.

Joan Curran of Gunderson Lutheran Health asked the committee to remove the proposed 1 percent tax on hospitals from the budget, saying the proposed tobacco tax increase would do enough to allow the state to capture more federal money for Medicaid. She also urged the committee not to allow a diversion of funds from the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund. Two local physicians also testified that the state should keep its hands off the patients compensation fund.

Three more superintendents of small school districts, Chetek, Mellon and Cameron, testified about the difficulties their districts face. A parent from Chetek and a retired school teacher from Chippewa Falls praised the governor's 2/3 school funding proposal.

Labels: Chippewa_Falls_Meeting, Cigarette_Tax, Health Care, Hospital Assessment, Joint Committee on Finance, Medicaid, Patients Compensation Fund, School funding

Dentist Kent Vandehaar asked for more Medicaid money to be directed for dental care. Vandehaar said his practice has stopped accepting MA patients because he loses money under the current reimbursement rate.

"I want to accept more patients, but I can't afford to," he said. He pointed out that of the $4.4 billion MA budget, only 1 percent is directed toward dental care.

Labels: Chippewa_Falls_Meeting, Joint Committee on Finance, Medicaid

Columbus Community Hospital CEO Ed Harding testified in front of the Joint Committee on Finance, saying Doyle's proposed 1 percent gross revenues tax on hospitals is "genuine," but is flawed and hopes the committee will take it out. Harding continued and said that the tax will "destabilize" the Medicaid program and funding.

He instead hoped the committee would pass a proposed cigarette tax increase.

Read his testimony here.

Labels: Arlington_Meeting, Hospital Assessment, Joint Committee on Finance, Medicaid

Terry McGinnity, administrator of the Lodi Good Samaritan Center, a 91-bed skilled nursing facility, spoke against the proposed bed tax increase for nursing homes.

The governor has proposed a 2 percent Medicaid rate increase in each year of the biennial budget. McGinnity said that increase should be 5 percent.

The proposed 2 percent increase would be funded by a raise in the nursing home bed tax, from the current $75 per month to $101 per month in 2007-08 to $125 in 2008-09, according to Doyle's budget.

McGinnity said in 2005-06, his facility experienced a MA deficit of $500,000, a loss of about $25.50 per day for each of the 51 Medicaid residents they serve.

The Medicaid rate at the facility is $136 per day at the Lodi facility, while the rate a private pay resident pays is about $198 per day, McGinnity said.

"We therefore ask 27 percent of our residents, those who pay privately, to pay about $62 a day more for the same care received by the 64 percent of our residents who are Medicaid recipients," he said. "On top of that, these private pay residents are paying $75 a month in a nursing home bed tax and SB 40 suggests they pay $50 more per month in 2008-09. How is this really fair, and when can we expect it to stop?"

Labels: Arlington_Meeting, Bed tax, Joint Committee on Finance, Medicaid

DHFS Secretary Kevin Hayden opened his statement to the JFC with a bit of news; his executive assistant, Jason Helgerson, will become the state's new Medicaid director on Monday.

Labels: DHFS, Hayden, Helgerson, Medicaid