From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— State health officials say the federal budget reconciliation bill will make it harder for thousands of Wisconsinites to qualify for Medicaid, warning this and other impacts will be “devastating.”
The state Department of Health Services today issued a new analysis of how the federal law will impact health care and food assistance in Wisconsin. It references the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee’s estimate that 276,175 state residents will lose health coverage under Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act as a result of provisions in the law.
Gov. Tony Evers says his administration will use “every tool we can” to respond to the Medicaid cuts and ensure Wisconsinites can access affordable, quality health care and other basic necessities.
“Republicans’ vote to cut popular programs like Medicaid will have a devastating impact on working families, kids, seniors, and Wisconsinites across our state,” Evers said in a statement.
In response to Evers’ statement, GOP U.S. Rep. Tony Wied said the “One Big Beautiful Bill strengthens Medicaid” for the most vulnerable Americans such as children, low-income families, disabled people and single parents.
“Our bill simply ensures that able-bodied adults with no dependents and illegal aliens are not abusing the system,” he said.
And GOP U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden argued Evers and DHS Secretary Kirsten Johnson are “lying to you because they can’t admit that Republicans saved BadgerCare and protected SNAP.” In a separate statement, he said the bill includes “sensible” work requirements that are widely supported by state residents.
Under the reconciliation bill, adults aged 16-64 that don’t have dependents will need to report 80 hours per month of work, training or volunteering to qualify for Medicaid, according to the DHS overview. The agency says this provision will put about 63,000 adults in the state “at the highest risk” of losing coverage.
Another provision reduces new Medicaid enrollees’ eligibility for retroactive coverage from up to three months prior to application to two months prior, starting in 2027. And yet another provision prohibits Medicaid payments to certain community health care providers for one year if they provide for abortions other than those related to rape, incest or saving the life of the mother, DHS notes.
A temporary restraining order was issued earlier this month to pause the provision from going into effect for Planned Parenthood, but DHS says that doesn’t apply to other providers who might be affected.
“This prohibition on payments could lead to clinics closing or to financial instability of these clinics for years to come,” the agency said.
Meanwhile, the reconciliation bill expands a work requirement for food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called FoodShare in the state. While the requirement previously applied to adults aged 54 years and younger, it now goes up to age 65 and also applies to parents with children aged 14-17 that were previously exempt, the overview shows. The state is also losing $12 million in annual funding for SNAP education, DHS says.
See the release below.
— Attorney General Josh Kaul has announced plans to move forward on a settlement with opioid manufacturers that, combined with another agreement, would mean $874 million for Wisconsin and local governments.
Kaul said in yesterday’s release he and 45 other attorneys general have reached an agreement that would require eight opioid manufacturers to make $720 million in abatement payments, which he said will amount to $12 million for Wisconsinites.
Kaul said the settlement hasn’t been finalized, and there will now be a sign-on period for local governments.
The AG said the new deal, combined with the recently announced proposed resolution with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, would bring in $874 million for Wisconsin and local governments.
Separately, in March, Kaul announced a settlement with Kroger, which he said would bring Wisconsin $21.8 million in opioid abatement.
— Legislation being circulated for cosponsorship in Wisconsin would establish a separate tax rate for some alternative tobacco products that are deemed a lower health risk than cigarettes.
Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, and Rep. Chanz Green, R-Grand View, recently sent a memo to other lawmakers seeking support for the bill.
They say standard cigarettes are the leading cause of “preventable disease and death” in the state, causing nearly 8,000 deaths annually and 30% of all cancer deaths in Wisconsin each year, based on figures from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Referencing the FDA and other public health authorities, the lawmakers note smokefree alternatives for nicotine are acknowledged to be “at the lower health risk end” compared to combustible cigarettes. In addition to vapes and nicotine pouches, the memo points to the FDA authorizing a heated tobacco product as “appropriate for the protection of public health” as a modified risk tobacco product.
Because these products heat the tobacco but don’t burn it, they have a “much lower risk profile” while replicating the experience of smoking a cigarette, according to the memo.
“Studies submitted to the FDA demonstrated that, while not risk-free, heated tobacco alternatives emit 90 to 95% fewer toxins compared to combustible cigarettes,” the lawmakers wrote.
Still, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids questions claims being made about heated tobacco products, with its website calling them the “tobacco industry’s newest way to keep people addicted to tobacco and attract new users” including young people. The anti-tobacco organization argues that while tobacco companies have marketed these new products as lower risk, the industry “has a long history of making false claims” about the health risks of its products.
Under the legislation, the state’s existing excise tax on cigarettes would apply to products that are defined as a roll of tobacco wrapped in paper or another substance other than tobacco that’s meant to be smoked by burning it. It would also create a separate, lower excise tax for the heated tobacco products.
“We can best support tobacco harm reduction by enacting risk-proportionate taxation, whereby the most harmful products are taxed at the highest rate and lower-risk alternatives are taxed at a much lower rate,” the lawmakers wrote.
The cosponsorship deadline is July 22 at 4 p.m.
See the memo.
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