Assessing the Risks of the Governor’s Health Care Plan

New WCCF Paper Summarizes Risks of Counting on Private Coverage to Work for Adults Near the Poverty Level

Most of the debate about the proposed changes to BadgerCare in the budget has focused on the fact that the Governor’s plan would cover far fewer people, but would cost considerably more than alternatives that accept the enhanced federal funding in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I think that fact should be enough for policymakers, but there are also a number of other reasons why state lawmakers should use the enhanced federal funds to close the gap in BadgerCare coverage.

Another general reason for taking the ACA funding is that there are numerous risks in counting on the new health insurance marketplace, known as an exchange, to be an effective way of achieving affordable health care coverage for adults near the poverty line. A short new WCCF publication describes the various risks that make health care providers and consumer advocates very concerned about the practicality and timing of the proposed shift of about 100,000 current BadgerCare participants into the exchange.

Good News and Bad News on DCF Budget Measures

JFC Motion Improves a Few Areas, but Leaves Most of the Wisconsin Shares Cuts Intact

Tuesday evening the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) approved an omnibus motion that makes a few improvements in the Department of Children and Families (DCF) budget. However, a new Wisconsin Budget Project Blog post says the committee’s version of the DCF budget is very disappointing in many important respects – including the fact that it doesn’t incorporate the recommendations of the Wisconsin Early Learning Coalition.

A Budget Project Blog post provides a preliminary overview of the good and bad news in the omnibus motion.  It explains that re-estimates of Wisconsin Shares spending freed up some additional money that DCF expects to use for a long-overdue rate increase for child care providers; however, the prospects for that will be diminished if Wisconsin Works spending doesn't quickly begin dropping by 1% each month.

Jon Peacock

Wisconsin High School Graduation Rate Increases for Third Year in a Row

Nearly nine of out of ten Wisconsin high school students graduated on time last year, a rate that has
increased for at least three years in a row. But Wisconsin’s high graduation rate masks a deep
disparity between the graduation rates of white and black students.

In 2012, 89.5% of Wisconsin’s high school students graduated with a regular diploma after four years of high school. For the last three years, Wisconsin’s graduation rate has steadily increased, as shown in the chart below. Before 2010, Wisconsin used a different method to calculate graduation rates, which makes it difficult to compare current graduation rates to earlier years.

Tuesday Agenda Includes Costly Work/Training Requirement for Food Share Recipients

Annualized Effect Expected to be $71.9 Million Loss of Federal Benefits and $26 Million GPR Cost for State

The crowded agenda for the Joint Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 21, includes the Governor’s proposal to impose a work or training requirement for many of the participants in the Food Share program. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau paper (#335) summarizing the proposal makes some important points about the effects of imposing the requirement.  Here are some of the key points from that paper:

• Adding the requirement would cost about $16.7 million in state general purpose revenue (GPR) in fiscal year 2014-15 (and more than $35.5 million in total state and federal funding).
• Because the requirement would be phased in during the second year of the biennium, the budget doesn’t reflect the full annualized cost, which the Fiscal Bureau estimates would be $9.4 million GPR per year higher in 2015-17 – adding $18.8 million to the structural deficit in that biennium.
• An estimated 31,350 people would lose their Food Share benefits, costing them (and the Wisconsin economy) $71.9 million of federally-funded benefits for food purchases.
• The bill adds 36 state government positions  to implement the requirement.
• The budget proposal assumes that the training and other services for the participants would cost $125 per participant per month.

JFC Likely to Vote Tuesday on W-2 Shortfall and Other TANF Issues

LFB Papers Reinforce Our Concerns about W-2 Shortfall and EITC Shell Game

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB), if the growth in W-2 participation in recent months is followed by a slightly slower rate of decline than the budget bill assumes, W-2 spending could exceed the reduced level recommend by the Governor by $30 million over the next two fiscal years.  That’s one of several alternatives that the Joint Finance Committee is expected to consider on Tuesday, May 21, when it acts on the Department of Children and Families (DCF) budget.

The LFB papers reinforce concerns raised several weeks ago by the Wisconsin Budget Project in an issue brief about the federal funding being siphoned away from programs supporting low-income families.  A new Wisconsin Budget Project Blog post summarizes the latest information about the substantial underfunding of W-2 in the budget bill, and how that problem can be remedied by not transferring so much funding from the TANF block grant to the Department of Revenue.

Jon Peacock

Physicians Take on Eliminating Childhood Poverty

The American Pediatrics Association (APA) and the Academy of American Pediatricians (AAP) has recently issued a Task Force Report on Childhood Poverty: A Strategic Roadmap Committed to Bringing the Voice of Pediatricians to the Most Important Problem Facing Children in the US Today.  This report is a powerful statement about the harmful effects of poverty on children and lays out a series of critical policy and investment recommendations that are aimed at alleviating the harmful effects of poverty on child development and eliminating childhood poverty altogether. One in five children in Amercia is growing up in poverty, and while Wisconsin's a bit better (one in six), we are unfortunately "catching  up" to the national average at a faster rate than many other states.  The document provides a strong commitment from those very well-respected pediatricians to address many of the social determinants of poverty as well as identifying policies and practices that can change the future for millions of our children. 

The documents affirm that while the challenge is great, it is also not "rocket science" - that there are things that can be done if we can raise our voices and generate the political will to do them. It has never been a question of whether we can afford to do something - it has always been can we afford not to?  We are in the middle of a state budget cycle in which decisions are getting made - get involved and let your legislators know that their decisions impact the future of thousands of children in Wisconsin.                            by Jim Moeser

17-Year-Olds Belong Back in Juvenile Court

As other states around the country in which the age of adult court jurisdiction is lower than 18 are changing, it is time for Wisconsin to use what we have learned over the past seventeen years about adolescent brain development, what works with youthful offenders, and what the research confirms - that we can keep the community safer and have better long-term outcomes for youth if we take steps to return most seventeen year olds to juvenile court.  We also know that the vast majority of offenses committed by seventeen year olds are not violent or serious offenses.

Based on arrest data from the Office of Justice Assistance, the chart shows that only around 5% of offenses will fall within the category of violent or serious offenses.  Seventeen year olds arrested for the first time for non-violent and less serious offenses deserve a second chance - a chance to have their offense dealt with in juvenile court rather than starting out in the adult system. WCCF will continue to work with others to ensure that seventeen year olds get that second chance.

by Jim Moeser