NewsLocal News

Actions

Gov.-elect Evers promises Medicaid expansion while touring Milwaukee health center

Posted at 6:14 PM, Nov 28, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-28 19:14:16-05

Gov.elect Tony Evers was in Milwaukee Wednesday afternoon, touring the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center on Cesar Chavez Drive.

The vast majority of people the health center serves are either uninsured or on Medicaid.

“We have locations throughout Milwaukee, and in Waukesha County,” said Chris Mambu Rasch, with Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers. “It’s critical that we have open and honest dialogue with state leaders. It’s only right for the people we serve. This visit by Evers, shows we’re already working with this new administration.”

As Evers met with patients and health care workers, he reiterated his promise to expand Medicaid and improve health care in Wisconsin.

"This health center is doing all the right things, but clearly resources are an issue, and it just reinforces with me the need as a state to access Medicaid expansion money that we haven’t had,” he said. “We can’t afford to have a society where some people get health care, and some people don’t. We’re going to work together to change this.”

Evers acknowledged that he will face resistance to fully expand Medicaid in the Republican-controlled state legislature.

“There will be opposition,” he said. “I knew that when I was running, and I know it now that I’ve been elected. But I will have Medicaid expansion in my budget.”

Evers’ state budget is due in February. He said he will ask for an extension, which is not uncommon for new administrations. He said he plans to meet with people and organizations throughout the state to help cultivate his budget proposal.