Wisconsin could save more than $1.6 billion over the next two years by expanding Medicaid to cover nearly 91,000 additional low-income people, a move Republicans continue to block. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau says that the federal COVID-19 relief bill Congress passed Wednesday would provide Wisconsin more than $1 billion in new, temporary savings if the state adopts Gov. Tony Evers’ call for Medicaid expansion. The Democratic governor has proposed expanding Medicaid in his state budget, but Republicans show no signs of budging. Republican state senator Dan Feyen of Fond du lac says he is still opposed to expanding Medicaid. Feyen says the savings would be only temporary and says the state has managed Medicaid very well over the last couple years with a budget surplus. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos calls Medicaid expansion a “nonstarter.”
