Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won federal approval Jan. 9 to expand Medicaid coverage to as many as 83,000 low-income childless adults while ending coverage for about 77,000 childless adults who earn between 100% to 133% of the federal poverty level.
Those taken off the state's Medicaid program, known as BadgerCare, will be directed to the new health insurance marketplace created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
However, unlike his Republican peers in states such as Michigan that have recently sought waivers to expand Medicaid eligibility, Walker declined to tailor the scope of the plan to satisfy the Medicaid provisions of the ACA. That means the state will have significantly less federal funding for covering its low-income residents.
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