MADISON - With similar failed track records on job creation, massive budget deficits, and a pair of criminal corruption probes apiece, Scott Walker and Chris Christie are largely two peas in a pod – except when it comes to healthcare.

Unlike Scott Walker, who rejected federal funds to strengthen BadgerCare, Chris Christie was one of several Republican governors who correctly recognized that expanding Medicaid was both a good deal for the people of their states and a fiscally responsible budget decision.

By accepting federal funds, Wisconsin could have covered 84,700 people than are insured today and saved the state millions of dollars in taxpayer money -- $119 million in this biennium alone. In addition, billions of dollars in federal funding is being sent to other states. Through 2021 we will lose approximately $2.4 billion in federal funding because Walker opted not to expand Medicaid.

And with Wisconsin ranked dead last in the Midwest in job creation, Walker’s decision has also cost the state jobs. Families USA estimates that expanding Medicaid could create 10,500 healthcare jobs in Wisconsin.

“Scott Walker sure doesn’t need any pointers on how to fail at job creation or navigate a criminal corruption probe or two, but he could learn something from Chris Christie about what a good deal it was expanding Medicaid,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Tuesday. “It’s not too late for Walker to put politics aside and do the right thing for a change, like his fellow Republican governors Chris Christie, Jan Brewer, and Jon Kasich, but I’m not holding my breath.”