Lack of Stimulus Funds Leaves $1.8 Billion Hole in Wisconsin's 2011-13 Budget

With thousands of Wisconsinites out of work, stress increased on safety-net programs like BadgerCare Plus at a time when lost jobs has led to lost health insurance. From 2006 through 2010, Medicaid enrollment increased from 834,000 to 1.1 million...

...The stimulus dollars provided by the federal government for that program have dried up. That leaves a $1.8 billion hole in the state's 2011-13 Medicaid budget, which is more than half of the state's $3 billion deficit in the biennium.

It appears the increase in enrollment during the five-year period put Wisconsin on a path toward promising beyond what it could afford. But the $6.6 billion Medicaid budget in 2010 — comprised of both state and federal dollars — was years in the making and had as much to do with trends in the health care industry as the state's commitment to provide low-cost insurance for low-income families.