Wisconsin Medicaid changes before budget committee

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed changes to the state Medicaid program is scheduled to be discussed by the Legislature’s budget committee.

The Joint Finance Committee plans to take up Walker’s Medicaid plan during a briefing Wednesday. The state Department of Health Services is one of five agencies scheduled to discuss the governor’s budget.

Walker rejected expanding Medicaid under the federal health care overhaul law. Instead, he proposes tightening income eligibility which would then make more people near the poverty line purchase insurance through new private marketplaces.

Critics say those marketplaces were not designed for people that poor.

Walker’s plan would also allow for a cap on enrollment in a program for childless adults to be lifted.

Democrats have come out against it, but they don’t have the votes to stop it.