From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is urging the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to investigate conditions at the Tomah VA Medical Center, referencing reports of “severe lapses” in patient care at the hospital.
The Madison Dem sent a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins expressing “grave concern regarding serious allegations” about the treatment of veterans at the medical center, noting employees there reached out to her office to raise these issues.
Baldwin’s office says it received reports of inadequate staffing contributing to falls as well as injuries, patients choking on food and more. The release also notes a Tomah VA nurse was charged with abuse after a veteran patient in hospice allegedly had oxygen withheld “on purpose” and later died.
In the letter, Baldwin wrote the reports are “specific and alarming,” noting patients in hospice care are among the most vulnerable in the VA system.
“They also raise particularly troubling concerns about the care of hospice patients, including inadequate provider coverage and delays in ensuring that seriously ill veterans receive medications necessary for comfort and end-of-life care,” she wrote.
While Baldwin says she’s requested the VA Office of the Inspector General conduct an independent investigation, she says the VA system can’t wait for its findings before taking action.
She’s asking Collins to direct the Veterans Health Administration and Veterans Integrated Service Network to conduct a full review of staffing levels, provider coverage, medication delays, hospice care and patient safety.
“To be clear, this review should not rely on assurances from leadership at the Tomah VA,” she wrote.
The VA’s Office of Public Affairs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Tomah hospital leadership.
See the release below.
— State agencies have already requested nearly $3.7 billion in additional state aid in the upcoming biennium, with more than half of that to cover the cost to continue the state’s Medicaid program, according to a WisPolitics review.
And that tab will climb higher once the Department of Public Instruction, the courts and the Legislature turn in their requests.
In a letter accompanying the Department of Health Services request, Secretary Kirsten Johnson wrote two factors drove the proposed $1.9 billion increase her agency is seeking: rising service needs and cuts to federal funding for state Medicaid programs.
She also warned 63,000 Wisconsinites are at immediate risk of losing their healthcare coverage under work requirements in Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act; enrollment averaged nearly 1.2 million each month in fiscal year 2025-26.
According to the agency’s budget request, about 45% of the additional GPR requested would go toward providing long-term care for nursing homes, Family Care and other programs that care for the elderly and those with disabilities.
The proposal also noted DHS expects average monthly enrollment in BadgerCare Plus Parents/Caretakers to decrease by 4.2% in fiscal year 2026-27 due to provisions in the federal law restricting non-citizen eligibility.
Those changes include ending the option for most with refugee status to gain immediate eligibility and other provisions impacting lawful immigrants.
The state agency requests — which already outstrip the state’s projected $3 billion surplus to end this biennium — will be the starting point for the budget that Dem David Crowley or Republican Tom Tiffany puts together next year as governor. But the requests will by no means be the last word.
Two years ago, agencies requested nearly $9.6 billion in additional GPR once the final requests from DPI and others were factored in. The budget Dem Gov. Tony Evers proposed that following February included an $8.3 billion bump in GPR spending, while the one he signed in July 2025 provided a boost of $3.3 billion.
Crowley’s campaign didn’t directly respond to several questions WisPolitics posed on whether he would seek cuts to Medicaid or tax increases in the upcoming budget, as well as what his top priorities for the two-year plan would be if elected. Instead, the Milwaukee County executive said in a statement he’s worked with Dems and Republicans to balance the county budget while lowering property taxes and delivering essential services.
Tiffany, a GOP congressman from Minocqua, has previously said he would audit Medicaid, saying such a review would find “millions, if not tens of millions of dollars” in fraud. He wrote in a statement to WisPolitics that he wouldn’t seek any cuts to the program if elected governor, instead enforcing work requirements for able-bodied, childless adults while rooting out waste and fraud.
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