BadgerCare Plus
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Updated May 23, 2009:
BadgerCare Plus is Wisconsin's state sponsored health care system which streamlines Medicare, BadgerCare and Healthy Start. Currently, it has the potential to cover 98 percent of Wisconsin residents, and in January 2009, it will be expanded to make all Wisconsin residents eligible.
About 60 percent of BadgerCare Plus is covered by federal funding, and the majority of the remaining 40 percent is covered by co-payments.
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Avalability
The main objective of BadgerCare Plus is to make sure that every child in Wisconsin can recieve health insurance, which it fulfills. It also currently offers the service to most parents/caretakers, all pregnant women and all adults 18-21 after leaving a foster home.
In January 2009, it will be expanded to allow childless adults 18-64 to sign up for the program.
Premiums and Co-Payments
Families making less than $41,300 a year can receive BadgerCare Plus for free. Families making between $41,300 and $61,950 pay a premium of between $10 and $63 a month per child. Those that make more than $61,950 pay a premium of $68.25 per child. These premiums may change as the poverty line changes.
Co-payments of $5 per prescription and $100 per hospital visit are required for most, excluding children under the poverty line, children of tribal members and pregnant women.
Implementation
In order to get the word out about BadgerCare Plus, the Department of Health and Family Services gave a total of $447,112 in grants to non-profits such as the YMCA, the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, and health care clinics around the state, particularly in Madison and Milwaukee.
GOP v. Dems on program
BadgerCare Plus was a big part of the debate during the 2007 Budget Impasse. Since very little funding for BadgerCare Plus comes from state taxes, Republicans, who tend to be weary of state-sponsored medicine, seemed to be able to live with the program.
