http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/badgercare-save-s426.jpg15 advocacy groups & unions call on Gov. Evers to use veto power to force BadgerCare expansion onto the table.

Statewide: 15 advocacy groups and unions sent a letter earlier today to Governor Evers urging him to deploy his vast veto powers to force the Legislature to negotiate over BadgerCare Expansion. Full letter here.

The letter does not call on Evers to veto the entire budget, or the entire Medicaid section, but to make strategic use of his sweeping veto powers to deny the majority its top priorities until they will have a good faith negotiation over BadgerCare Expansion.

The letter points out that over the last decade Wisconsin has become an outlier as state after state has accepted the Medicaid Expansion money provided under the Affordable Care Act. As a result, about 90,000 are denied access to affordable health care, and with the unwinding of the public health emergency the disruption of health care access may be even larger.

The toll on Wisconsinites struggling to secure access to health care is detailed in the letter:

“The coverage gap affects people from every walk of life and every region and every legislative district of the state, but it disproportionately impacts people of color and women who have lower incomes are more likely to work in jobs which do not provide good employer-based coverage.

The coverage gap is forcing many Wisconsinites to choose between health care coverage and work. As the Joint Finance Committee heard in testimony during their regional public hearings, many with chronic conditions are choosing to impoverish themselves to gain access to health care. Child care workers and home care workers turning down hours in fields with critical workforce shortages. In some cases people are forced to divorce their spouses in order to qualify themselves for BadgerCare. People who are diagnosed with chronic and life threatening conditions such as cancer who are unable to work are forced to impoverish themselves to get access to treatment.”

The advocacy groups and unions signing on to the letter are as follows:

Citizen Action of Wisconsin

Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice

WISDOM

WEAC

Kids Forward

Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association

Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools

Madison-area Urban Ministry, Inc. DBA JustDane

AFT-W Local 4848

AFT  Local 212

Milwaukee Turners

9to5 Wisconsin

Lake Edge United Church of Christ

Wisconsin Physicians for a National Health Plan

Our Wisconsin Revolution

How can antiracists ask racists to open their minds and change when we are closed minded and unwilling to change?-- Ibram X Kendi