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PolitiFact Wisconsin: Is Obamacare funding unfair to Wisconsin as Senator Ron Johnson claims?

Posted at 6:24 PM, Sep 29, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-29 19:28:35-04

Republican efforts to overhaul health care have run into another brick wall in the Senate. 

But are Wisconsin and other states not getting their fair share of funding under the Affordable Care Act? PolitiFact Wisconsin looks as the numbers.  

Senator Ron Johnson made a big push by co-sponsoring the Senate's latest version to replace the Affordable Care Act by making this argument:

"Right now there are three states California, New York and Massachusetts, they are a little more than 20 percent population yet they get about 36 percent of all Obamacare funding, that is simply unfair."

PolitiFact Wisconsin points out the Badger State opted not to take the federal funding offered to states to expand Medicaid for low income earners.  

"Senator Johnson has been among the Republicans who are trying to repeal and replace Obamacare," said Tom Kertscher with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "And one of the arguments he's been using is that the funding in his view, is not fair"  

PolitiFact Wisconsin says Johnson's 36 percent number is in the ballpark, but his message behind the numbers doesn't add up. 

"It's true that those three states get more Obamacare funding," said Kertscher, "but the main reason is they decided to expand the Medicaid program and received more federal funds as a result." 

The Senate Republican's most recent effort fell short of the votes need to repeal and replace.   PolitiFact Wisconsin rated Johnson's claim mostly false