What A Dirty Game They Are Playing With The People Of WI!

Medicaid Budget Deficit Changes…Again

Governor Walker and Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis Smith announced new adjustments to the Medicaid budget deficit in a letter to the Joint Finance Committee on April 2, 2012. Recall that in March 2011, Wisconsin’s Administration introduced a budget repair and subsequent biennial budget that included a provision to terminate 53,000 childless adults and parents from BadgerCare Plus should the federal review of the MOE waiver request not be completed by December 31, 2011. In a related letter dated December 30, 2011, Smith informed the Joint Finance Committee that “new” budget numbers indicate that he overstated his initial projection of $554.4 million in savings required to balance the Medicaid budget. Projected budget deficits in December totaled less that $232 million dollars, a drop of over $300 million. Now, in the April 2 letter, Smith projects the deficit in the budget for Wisconsin’s state health care programs to have again decreased by another $27.5 million over the December numbers, so that Smith now estimates the state portion of the Medicaid deficit to be approximately $81.7 million—a far cry from the March 2011 projection.