Enrollment Begins For Wisconsin BadgerCare Plus Program

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 06 Feb 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Enrollment in Wisconsin's new BadgerCare Plus program began on Thursday, and state officials plan to enroll at least 25,000 children within the next 12 to 18 months, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The program consolidates and streamlines the state's existing Medicaid, Healthy Start and Badger Care programs.

Under the initiative, families with annual incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty level are eligible to purchase basic health coverage for their children for $10 to $90.74 per month, depending on income. Families with incomes greater than 300% of the poverty level will have to contribute the full cost for coverage -- about $1,089 annually per child -- and coverage will be fully subsidized for families with incomes below 200% of the poverty level. Families with incomes up to 150% of the poverty level will be enrolled in the program immediately after they submit their applications and will have up to two months to provide required documentation. Parents whose employers cover 80% of the cost of family coverage and undocumented immigrant children do not qualify for the program.

In most parts of the state, children will receive basic coverage through an HMO run by a private company. The coverage will include some copayments and will pay for generic prescription drugs. BadgerCare Plus also will change the way eligibility is determined for farmers and people who are self-employed.

The program is expected to cost $50 million over the next year-and-a-half, and the federal government will pay more than 60% of the costs. The program also will be funded through premiums paid by families, as well as savings from expanded use of HMOs and administrative savings. Gov. Jim Doyle (D) hopes to expand the program next year to cover low-income workers who do not have children (Boulton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1/31).

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