From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Wisconsin’s southeastern 4th Congressional District has the largest share of residents on Medicaid of any of the state’s districts, a Kaiser Family Foundation report shows, underlining concerns being raised about the impact of possible federal cuts.
The health policy organization recently released an analysis of Medicaid enrollment by congressional district. It follows a U.S. House budget resolution targeting at least $880 billion in cuts under the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid.
While President Donald Trump and GOP leadership have pledged not to make cuts to benefits under the federal health program, instead focusing on fraud and waste, Democrats and Medicaid advocates argue Republicans are trying to take funding from critical programs to pay for tax cuts for the rich.
Dem U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee, who represents the state’s 4th CD, has been slamming Republicans over possible cuts. In recent remarks posted to X, she said “in order to fund the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, they would simply transfer that wealth” from Medicaid and other programs.
“Veterans. Seniors. Disabled people. Disadvantaged children. That’s who Republicans are looking to take from in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and corporations,” Moore wrote.
The state’s 4th CD, which includes most of Milwaukee, has 308,600 residents on Medicaid, according to KFF. The next-highest total, in the state’s Republican 1st CD, is 168,700. The 4th CD has the most enrollees by percentage with 43%, while no other district in the state exceeds 23%.
The 4th CD also has 130,200 adults on the program — while other districts have fewer than 70,000 each — and 111,800 children on Medicaid. Other Wisconsin districts have between 31,600 and 60,400 children enrolled in the program.
And the 4th has 44,800 residents with disabilities on Medicaid, nearly double the number of the next-highest, the 1st with 23,100.
See the analysis here.
— The Assembly Committee on Health, Aging and Long Term Care has voted 11-5 to recommend passage of a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors.
Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, argued that the bill harms children. Subeck started crying as she pointed out the eight hours of testimony at the hearing on AB 104 earlier this week, mostly against the bill.
“If this bill were to become law,” Subeck said yesterday. “It is denying kids access to medical care that they need. It is substituting our judgment as elected officials for the judgment of parents, for the judgment of physicians, for the judgment of mental health care providers.”
Rep. Adam Neylon, R-Pewaukee, said the spirit of the bill is not to hurt children. He emphasized the bill’s supporters do not want transgender kids’ rights taken away, but to consider other paths for them to transition socially.
“This is not about the idea of us taking a judgment on trans people, right,” Neylon said. “This is about regulating medical care. And it comes from a conservative approach to medical care that may be irreversible, and we’re talking about children.”
Chair Clint Moses, R-Menomonie, noted the hearing Wednesday, saying that many members of the committee were attacked, and reprimanded some members for allowing the testimony to become contentious. Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa, defended speakers, saying the chair had allowed many hours of testimony in favor of the bill so emotions had built.
Subeck said the bill won’t become law anyway, so she was disappointed that the committee would vote on it.
Gov. Tony Evers in vetoing the measure last session said he would nix “any bill that makes Wisconsin a less safe, less inclusive, and less welcoming place for LGBTQ people and kids.”
Vining said that even having these discussions harms children’s mental health, citing examples of constituents who are hurt by these discussions.
But Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, said gender transition surgeries do not solve children’s mental health problems. He used the example of his niece who went through treatment as a minor. Kitchens said the treatment did not solve her mental health issues, and he doesn’t feel that the stories in the hearing were representative of everyone’s experience.
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Press Releases
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