On Friday, July 4, the president signed the budget reconciliation bill (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act), which will increase red tape for FoodShare and Medicaid members and will force 270,000 Wisconsinites to lose health insurance by taking away necessary support for them to afford health care coverage. Gov. Tony Evers and Wisconsin Department of Health Secretary Kirsten Johnson released the following statements:
“Republicans’ vote to cut popular programs like Medicaid will have a devastating impact on working families, kids, seniors, and Wisconsinites across our state. Wisconsinites will lose access to their health care and basic necessities like food that people depend on every day—and all so Republicans could pay for tax breaks for wealthy millionaires and billionaires. Make no mistake: the people of Wisconsin and our state will not be better off because of this bill,” said Gov. Tony Evers. “My administration will use every tool we can to respond to these cuts and we will continue doing everything we can to make sure every Wisconsinite has access to quality, affordable health care and the basic necessities they need to survive and thrive.”
“It’s incredibly important for Wisconsinites to understand how the decisions being made by the president and Congress negatively impact the health and nutrition of families across the state,” said Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Kirsten Johnson. “We ask Medicaid and FoodShare members to keep their contact information up to date. We will share information as it becomes available.”
Medicaid and FoodShare members should make sure their phone number, email, and mailing address on file are up to date by going to ACCESS.wi.gov website or the MyACCESS smartphone app. We will notify them if and when they need to comply with any new rules or requirements by sending notices, texts, and emails. We will also announce some of the changes broadly, as appropriate, using channels like the Medicaid news webpage, FoodShare news webpage, social media, news releases, and email.
The Department of Health Services will continue to provide updates to partners, providers, and the public as we receive further guidance about how to fully implement these policy changes from the federal government.
Today, the Department of Health Services issued an updated analysis detailing how the federal budget reconciliation bill will impact Wisconsinites who receive health care coverage and nutrition assistance through Medicaid and FoodShare. Below is an overview of impacts to Wisconsin’s Medicaid and SNAP programs. The Department of Health Services is continuing to analyze the federal budget reconciliation bill’s economic and fiscal impacts to the state of Wisconsin. More information about this analysis will be released in coming weeks.
The Department of Health Services agrees with the estimates released by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic
Medicaid (programs that use a ForwardHealth card in Wisconsin, like BadgerCare Plus, Family Care, and Katie Beckett)
Approximately 1 in 5 Wisconsinites (or 1 million) receive health care coverage and services through Wisconsin’s Medicaid programs. Almost half of Wisconsin Medicaid members are kids. Anyone with a ForwardHealth card has Wisconsin Medicaid, including members of:
- BadgerCare Plus
- Children’s Long-Term Support Program
- Family Care
- Family Care Partnership
- Family Planning Only Services
- IRIS
- PACE
The federal budget reconciliation bill:
- Creates barriers to coverage and increases costs to taxpayers by implementing red-tape work requirements for adults ages 19 to 64 without dependents, with certain exceptions. This requirement will put an estimated 63,000 adults without dependents at the highest risk of losing coverage.
- Limits Wisconsin’s options to finance Medicaid sustainably by putting a moratorium on new or increased provider taxes. Wisconsin was able to secure a last-minute provider rate increase when Gov. Evers signed the 2025-2027 state budget into law. We will be locked into this rate going forward.
- Reduces access to reproductive health care for thousands of Wisconsinites by prohibiting Medicaid payments to some essential community clinics that provide primarily family planning or reproductive services for one year. Many Wisconsinites rely on community providers for family planning services, reproductive health, and related medical care.
SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin)
Nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites receive food and nutrition assistance through FoodShare. FoodShare is Wisconsin’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Anyone with a Wisconsin QUEST card has FoodShare.
The budget reconciliation bill:
- Makes it harder for parents, kids, and older adults to get food assistance by increasing red tape work requirements to include adults up to age 65. Previously the requirement applied to adults ages 54 and below. It also now applies to parents with children ages 14-17 who were previously exempt from the requirement. For every $1 in SNAP benefits, working families across Wisconsin generate $1.50 for our state’s economy by shopping at local stores and farmers markets.
- Eliminates healthy eating education programs, removing $12 million annually from our community partners who help administer this SNAP education (SNAP-Ed) program and serve counties and Tribal Nations throughout the state. In 2024, SNAP-Ed programs provided 145,733 people with education about healthy eating, physical activity, and thrifty shopping. This bill eliminates this SNAP education (SNAP-Ed) funding entirely, with Wisconsin losing $12 million annually starting October 2025. For every $1 spent providing this program, $10 is saved in long-term health care costs.
