Shot: Today, five days away from Election Day and a day after Wisconsin received permission from the Trump Administration to restrict access to Medicaid, which is a lifeline for millions with pre-existing conditions, Scott Walker — who for eight years defined himself as a steadfast opponent of the Affordable Care Act — said, “No matter what happens in the courts or in the Congress, in Wisconsin, we’ll codify that, the exact same language that’s in the Affordable Care Act, we’ll make sure that everyone living with pre-existing conditions is covered here in the state.”
Chaser:
Scott Walker authorized the very same lawsuit that would eliminate the protections in the Affordable Care Act preventing discrimination based on pre-existing conditions if it succeeds. At risk:
- 2,435,700 Wisconsinites Living With A Pre-Existing Condition. About one in two Wisconsinites, 51 percent, lives with a pre-existing condition. [CAP, 4/5/17]
- 1,187,000 Wisconsin Women And Girls With A Pre-Existing Condition. Approximately 1,187,000 women and girls in Wisconsin live with a pre-existing condition. [CAP & National Partnership For Women and Families, June 2018]
- 308,100 Wisconsin Children Living With A Pre-Existing Condition. Roughly 308,000 Wisconsinites below age 18 live with a pre-existing condition. [CAP, 4/5/17]
- 616,900 Older Wisconsinites Living With A Pre-Existing Condition. 616,900 Wisconsin adults between the ages of 55 and 64 live with at least one pre-existing condition, meaning attacks on these protections significantly threaten Wisconsinites approaching Medicare age. [CAP, 4/5/17]
The Republican leader of the Wisconsin state Senate said just sixteen days ago that he doesn’t have the votes to pass a bill that would require insurance coverage of pre-existing conditions if Walker’s lawsuit is successful.
A new poll out yesterday shows 82 percent of Wisconsinites say the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to protect pre-existing conditions is very important to them, laying Scott Walker’s 11th-hour, craven political posturing bare.