Scott Walker’s Record on Health Care

Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now revealed Williams offered to advise former Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign. Williams is also the founding director of the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy, which has received funding from the conservative Charles Koch Foundation and Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

Battling his lack of credibility on protecting health care coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, Gov. Scott Walker has released a new television ad. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross said Walker is not to be trusted, not just because he is supporting a lawsuit to eliminate current law protections from insurance companies, but because he hasn’t cared about the issue until it threatened his being able to continue his quarter century long run as a professional politician, enjoying taxpayer funded healthcare for himself and his family. He noted Walker also blatantly misled voters in a 2014 campaign ad.

Gov. Scott Walker has one signature move, and it’s so tired that it’s a wonder anyone still falls for it: He creates or exacerbates a problem, then claims to be the only one who can save us from it. Since his time as Milwaukee County Executive, it appears to be the only real tactic that Walker knows. To be fair, of course, it’s gotten him this far, why stop now? The latest example comes in the form of health insurance expenses. Recent headlines declare “Obamacare costs could drop by 5% in 2019 under plan by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.” Sounds good, right? We would all like our insurance premiums to go down (or go away). The fact is that costs in Wisconsin have gone up 44% for those folks on the individual market who make too much to qualify for federal subsidies.

President Donald Trump’s administration signed off Sunday on Gov. Scott Walker’s $200 million plan to lower Affordable Care Act premiums. It was the latest effort by the GOP governor to work within the confines of Obamacare as he simultaneously tries to end the federal health care law. “Washington failed and Wisconsin had to lead,” Walker said Sunday at HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center.

Shortly after President Trump announced his pick for Supreme Court, the liberal group One Wisconsin Now sent an email with the subject line: “Trump, Walker will criminalize abortion.”

“If he is not blocked, Brett Kavanaugh will be the deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and do what Scott Walker has been trying to do for 25 years: criminalize women having abortions.”

Analiese Eicher of One Wisconsin Now predicts the abortion issue will be at the “forefront of the conversation” in the governor’s race. One reason for that, she says, is because of how “extreme” Wisconsin’s ban is, allowing almost no exceptions.

“This is something folks are going to be asking people point blank,” she says. “It’s not something you can be wishy-washy about. Either you are for the right to choose or not.”

“If he is not blocked, Brett Kavanaugh will be the deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and do what Scott Walker has been trying to do for 25 years: criminalize women having abortions,” said Analiese Eicher of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now.

“If he is not blocked, Brett Kavanaugh will be the deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and do what Scott Walker has been trying to do for 25 years: criminalize women having abortions,” said Analiese Eicher of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now.

One Wisconsin Now Program Director Analiese Eicher released the following statements about Donald Trump nominating Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Wisconsin school districts ratcheted up health care costs on teachers and other employees after the state’s Act 10 collective bargaining changes, with the average district now requiring teachers to pay about 12 percent of their health insurance premiums, newly released data show. Madison schools are near the low end of what districts now require for premium contributions, at 3 percent, according to the data, released by Gov. Scott Walker’s Department of Administration. It’s the first time the state has released a comprehensive look at teacher health care costs in all 422 of the state’s public school districts after the 2011 enactment of Act 10. And it’s one more example of the far-reaching scope of the law — in this case, how it paved the way for state and local workers to pay much more for benefits. The 2017-19 state budget required the Department of Administration to collect the data, which is from the 2017-18 school year.

Wachs says that Governor Walker has turned down one billion dollars in Medicaid money,” said Tom Kertscher with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel… “He didn’t trust the federal government and to continue to providing states additional money for it,” said Kertscher. He also said he thought Medicaid should be limited to people at the federal poverty level rather than people who make a little bit more than that.”… However, Gov. Walker did do what’s called a ‘partial expansion’. That allowed people at the poverty level to be eligible for Medicaid for the first time in state history. The upshot of the governor’s decision is that the state, over a five year period, is spending about one billion dollars more on Medicaid than it would have if it took the extra federal money. Because the numbers are an estimate — but Wachs’ statement is accurate — PolitiFact Wisconsin rated his claim ‘Mostly True.’

As part of his increasingly desperate bid to rehabilitate his image and continue his quarter century long political career, Scott Walker today released a new campaign television ad.

Gov. Scott Walker declined Tuesday to voice support for Wisconsin to enact its version of a new Iowa law that bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, typically about six weeks into a pregnancy. “I think our laws protecting life in this state are very strong,” Walker told reporters in Madison. Asked again if he would back something like the Iowa law here, Walker repeated that Wisconsin’s existing laws are strong. Walker’s unwillingness to publicly support the controversial measure comes as his bid for a third term is heating up.

Gov. Scott Walker’s administration filed a request with the federal government seeking a waiver that would allow Wisconsin to offer a $200 million reinsurance program designed to lower premiums and attract more providers to the private marketplace. Walker told reporters Wednesday that if the program is in effect premiums will go down 5% in 2019, a dramatic shift after they increased 44% this year as enrollment dropped and fewer providers offered coverage. Walker said he was confident President Donald Trump’s administration would grant the waiver this summer. “We feel very, very positive about our ability to get an approval and do so on a timely basis,” he said… Democrats have criticized the move, calling it an election-year attempt to disguise how damaging Walker’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act has been. The Legislature passed the bill authorizing the reinsurance program with bipartisan support. Walker, a longtime critic of the national healthcare law known as “Obamacare,” has rejected federal money to expand Medicaid and argued for years that the law should be repealed. But this year, as he faces re-election in November, Walker has pushed the reinsurance proposal as a way to stabilize the market and lower premium costs for the state’s roughly 200,000 people who purchase insurance under the law. Walker originally said the state’s share under the 5-year program would be $50 million annually with the federal government picking up $150 million. But he said Wednesday the state’s share, to be taken from unspecified Medicaid savings, would actually be $34 million a year with the federal government paying the rest.

Gov. Scott Walker signed 64 bills into law Tuesday, including one that prohibits state health insurance plans for public employees from covering abortion procedures with some exceptions.The abortion bill, which the Assembly passed in November and the Senate passed in February along party lines after it failed to pass in 2013, is the latest in a series of laws passed by Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature that restrict access to abortion… The latest bill prohibits the Group Insurance Board from covering abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother. State law already limited state health plans to covering only medically necessary abortions, though bill proponents said the new law was needed to clarify what constitutes a medically necessary abortion.

Gov. Scott Walker’s $200 million plan to reduce health care costs for people purchasing insurance through the private marketplace won support from Wisconsin’s health insurance providers, doctors and medical community at a public hearing Monday, even as Democrats raised concerns about its sustainability…The proposal won backing Monday from the health insurance industry, including the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, which speaks for 12 community-based health plans in the state. Citizen Action Wisconsin, an advocacy group that supports universal health care, raised concerns. The proposal does not guarantee that the insurance companies receiving money from the state will pass on any savings to consumers, said Kevin Kane, a health care specialist with the group. At its best, the program would slightly reduce premiums for only a small percentage of people who buy insurance through the marketplace but don’t receive tax subsidies, Kane said. It will also do nothing to affect deductibles and co-pays, he said.

Stepping toward the political center in a difficult election year, Gov. Scott Walker proposed using $200 million in state and federal money to stabilize the state’s Obamacare market and hold down rising insurance premiums… A fierce critic of Obamacare, Walker is set to use his eighth “state of the state” speech Wednesday to propose that the state “step up and lead” by strengthening the Affordable Care Act. As part of the broad health package, Walker also wants the Trump administration to permanently authorize SeniorCare, the prescription drug program that the governor once sought to scale back. Walker’s shift is a mark of both the congressional failure to overhaul Obamacare and a tough political climate in which Democrats have won special elections in northwestern Wisconsin and around the country.

Health coverage under a plan from Gov. Scott Walker that has won support from President Donald Trump’s administration…Walker and his fellow GOP governors in nine other states have sought to impose work and training requirements on the Medicaid program known in Wisconsin as BadgerCare. But to do it they needed the backing of federal officials. Jon Peacock, research director of the advocacy group Kids Forward, said he expected the decision to spark a federal lawsuit from opponents. He said the deal would hurt needy college students and adults caring for elderly parents and would do less to get people working than addressing other problems like a lack of transportation.

Part of the problem, Larson said, with getting CNAs to come and work at their facility is the lack of Medicaid money to help pay them a higher, competitive wage. Larson said Wisconsin Medicaid has not seen an increase in funding since 2008 so he is hopeful that the 2 percent increase in Medicaid reimbursement that Gov. Scott Walker approved in the 2017-19 budget in October may help with some of the problems.

As Republicans in Washington, D.C. continue their streak of failure on health care, a bipartisan group of governors issued a joint statement opposing a reckless plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no replacement and calling for lawmakers to work in “... an open, bipartisan way to provide better insurance for all Americans.” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who also heads the Republican Governors Association, was not among those signing on to the letter. According to One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne that raises the question: what is it about his fellow governors’ message that Scott Walker opposes?

Refusing to self-insure state employees would trigger a 10 percent increase in health care premiums for 2018 — 3 percent more than what Gov. Scott Walker’s budget plans for, state officials said Friday. And revised estimates released by the Walker administration also show the state would save about $43 million more than the $60 million figure the governor had touted in the past while trying to persuade lawmakers to approve his plan. The announcement from top officials in Walker’s administration is part of a renewed push to convince lawmakers to move forward with Walker’s self-insurance proposal despite a promise from the state’s budget committee to reject the idea, and was met with questions from critics about the legitimacy of the new figures.

The state Legislature’s budget-writing committee voted on Thursday to require some Wisconsin residents using food stamps and receiving public health care to be tested for drug use and to meet work requirements in exchange for benefits.The Joint Finance Committee, the state’s budget-writing panel, voted 12-4 to approve Walker’s plan that would make Wisconsin the first state in the nation to make drug tests mandatory for Medicaid recipients and would impose tests on adult food stamp recipients without dependent children seeking coverage through the state’s BadgerCare program.

Gov. Scott Walker wants to make Wisconsin the first state in the country to require able-bodied, childless adults applying for Medicaid health benefits to undergo drug screening, a move that could serve as a national model. Walker’s plan, which needs federal approval, comes as he prepares to run for a third term next year. Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled budget committee approved Walker’s proposal on Thursday, a key vote that will clear the way for the full Legislature to pass it later this summer.

Wisconsin is preparing to recast its Medicaid program in ways that no state has ever done, requiring low-income adults to undergo drug screening to qualify for health coverage and setting time limits on assistance unless they work or train for a job. The approach places BadgerCare, as the Wisconsin version of Medicaid is known, at the forefront of a movement by Republican governors and legislatures that is injecting a brand of moralism and individual responsibility into the nation’s largest source of public health insurance.

The Republican leaders of the Legislature’s budget committee plan to reject Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to self-insure state employees, but find other ways to try to save money under the existing system. The announcement marks the likely defeat of one of the governor’s most ambitious and contentious proposals in his 2017-19 budget plan. The removal must still be voted on by the Joint Finance Committee.

After years of skepticism, lawmakers must now decide on Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to save at least $60 million by restructuring health insurance for some 250,000 government employees and their families. The Republican governor wants the state to shift from a model in which the state pays premiums to private insurers to cover state and local employees. Instead, the state would pay the workers’ health care costs directly.

The emotional reaction to the House’s passage of a bill to largely roll back the Affordable Care Act, known to many as Obamacare, led to a public argument between Governor Scott Walker (R – Wisconsin) and the Outagamie County Executive. Under the House bill, states could opt to allow insurers to charge more to people with pre-existing conditions, then create a high-risk pool for those individuals, using federal money to help them pay for insurance.

After saying he would consider having Wisconsin opt out of the Affordable Care Act’s pre-existing condition rules, Gov. Scott Walker on Friday stressed that he wasn’t seeking to remove protections for patients. “I’m waiting to see what gets to the president’s desk, but we’re not looking to change pre-existing conditions,” Walker said in an evening interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The Wisconsin Senate passed nine bills designed to fight opioid abuse on Tuesday. They now head to Gov. Scott Walker, who is expected to sign them all into law. The Wisconsin based non-profit Stop Heroin Now has been doing everything they can to bring awareness to the opioid and heroin epidemic. They’re thankful to hear help is on the way on a state level.

The provisions laid out in Walker’s proposal will mostly affect individuals with diagnosed substance abuse and low-income families, Kraig said. Wisconsin Council on Children and Families research director Jon Peacock said his main concern is charging premiums to childless adults who have BadgerCare. Small increases in premiums could cause individuals to lose their health care because they can no longer afford it. Peacock said the requested waiver will impede Wisconsin’s overall goal to expand Wisconsin’s workforce, eliminate the coverage gap in our state’s health care system and cut the number of uninsured people.

Gov. Scott Walker signed into law a bill that would legalize possession of a marijuana extract used to treat seizures. The governor signed the bill Monday in Burlington.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is proposing changes to the state’s Medicaid program, also known as BadgerCare, that would would require drug testing and treatment for some applicants. An official in the Walker administration said the measure aims to help individuals transition to work. During a Monday media call sponsored by Citizen Action of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, public health experts criticized Walker’s plan, saying it won’t reduce the burden on taxpayers or set up effective support for drug users. “It may be very good politics for a governor’s race, but that’s mostly what it is. It’s horrendous public policy,” said Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin.

A Democratic state senator pressed Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s top health official last week to support hiking Medicaid reimbursement rates for mental health providers in the state. The testy exchange in a state budget hearing highlighted a key debate around mental health services in the state. Boosting Medicaid rates was identified by USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin’s Kids in Crisis series as a method to improve a statewide shortage of mental health providers.

Now that House Republicans have squandered their shot at reordering Medicaid, governors who want conservative changes in the health program for ­low-income Americans must get special permission from the Trump administration. Near the front of the line is Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who not only supports work requirements and premium payments but also a new additional condition: to make applicants undergo a drug test if they’re suspected of substance abuse. If Walker gets his way, Wisconsin would be the first state in the country with mandatory drug screening for Medicaid enrollees. The governor plans to release his proposal in mid-April and submit it to the Department of Health and Human Services by the end of May.

With the GOP’s repeal of Obamacare stymied in Congress, Gov. Scott Walker is still rejecting the federal law and instead asking the Trump administration to let Wisconsin drug test applicants for state coverage. Even though federal money remains available for providing health care to more Wisconsin residents, the GOP governor says he’s not reconsidering his decision to skip that and forgo hundreds of millions of dollars from federal taxpayers.

The head of the Wisconsin Hospital Association is urging Gov. Scott Walker to parlay his influence with the White House and his role as head of the Republican Governors Association to make significant changes to the health care overhaul bill that stalled Thursday due to a lack of support. Hospital Association President Eric Borgerding outlined more than a dozen points of concern in a letter marked as hand-delivered to Walker on Monday. Borgerding has been speaking publicly this week about the group’s concerns and its estimate that 311,000 people in the state would lose insurance coverage by 2026 under the GOP plan.

Peterson called on the 100-plus attendees at the meeting to be a “strong voice in opposition” to the bill that would repeal the 2010 federal health care law, also known as “Obamacare,” and replace it with a law that a nonpartisan congressional analysis says would result in 24 million people nationwide losing insurance over the next decade. The proposal is also expected to lead to higher premiums for people buying insurance on the private market, particularly older Americans who don’t yet qualify for Medicare. … “People in my district, quite frankly, are terrified,” Sargent said.

Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday declined to give full support to a health care overhaul plan proposed by his Republican colleagues in the U.S. House and backed by GOP President Donald Trump, describing the measure as “a work in progress.” Walker, speaking to reporters after an event in Madison, also voiced concern with the dearth of information about the proposal’s cost and impact. … “I personally want to know what the cost is,” Walker said.

The governor and other Republicans for six years have railed against the Affordable Care Act, but Walker claimed repealing it and replacing it with Ryan’s plan would not affect most people. “Most people aren’t going to be affected by this no matter what happens because if you get your health insurance from your employer, which is almost everybody here and almost everybody in this state, nothing changes,” Walker told reporters in Madison. On further questioning, Walker allowed that replacing the system that provides health care to millions of Americans could affect the premiums paid by people who use employer-sponsored plans.

According to the Republican outline, Medicaid would be revamped to give states either block grants or per-capita grants, as opposed to the federal government’s paying a percentage of the total cost. In Wisconsin, the federal government covers 58% of Medicaid costs. In exchange, states would be given the flexibility to try new approaches that could improve care and control costs. Many governors, including Gov. Scott Walker, support the approach.The risk is that Medicaid spending will grow more than the block or per-capita grants, shifting costs to states, said Buntin of Vanderbilt University.

Republican governors from seven states are calling for dramatic changes to Medicaid, which provides insurance to more than 70 million low-income Americans, as they nervously watch President Donald Trump and GOP congressional leaders move to repeal and replace the Obama-era health law. At the same time, they’re telling Washington: Don’t scrap the Affordable Care Act without a viable alternative.According to a draft of the proposal obtained by The Associated Press, the governors are urging Congress to adopt an alternative that would change Medicaid from an open-ended federal entitlement to a program designed by each state within a financial limit. Led by Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a frequent critic of some GOP proposals on health care, the governors plan to present their proposal at their annual meeting in Washington on Saturday. In addition to Kasich, the governors are Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Gov. Scott Walker’s 2017-2019 budget calls for a 4 percent increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rate for personal care. That might help ease a shortage of workers but won’t make the problem go away, say those who use or provide personal care. “We’re pleased the administration has recognized that there is a crisis,” said Todd Costello, executive director of the Community Living Alliance, a personal-care agency in Madison, and legislative co-chairperson of the Wisconsin Personal Services Association. “However, it won’t really cover the fact that there hasn’t been an increase in nearly 10 years.” Under Walker’s budget, which the state Legislature will review in the coming months, the hourly rate that agencies receive to pay workers and cover overhead will increase from $16.08 to $16.40 the first year and to $16.72 the second year. The cost of the increase is $15 million over two years, $6.2 million of it being state money. The last rate hike, of 24 cents an hour, was in 2008.

Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget marks the biggest push in four years to funnel more state dollars into youth mental health programs. In addition to $6 million for school initiatives, the budget would set aside $1.25 million for creating a youth crisis shelter, $1 million for expanding a doctor consultation program and $557,000 for youth prison services. Walker also is seeking an additional $39 million for Medicaid over the next two years to eliminate a waiting list of children requesting long-term services.

Gov. Scott Walker and state health care executives are pushing to ensure that an Obamacare repeal doesn’t disadvantage Wisconsin compared with states that embraced the law – an issue with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.The GOP governor has resisted making full use of the tax dollars available under the federal Affordable Care Act to do a full expansion of state Medicaid health coverage for the needy. Now, the Republican-controlled Congress and President-elect Donald Trump need to ensure that states that did take the federal money don’t end up with a permanent advantage, a Walker aide said.

 One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements about Gov. Scott Walker calling for a special session of the already-in-session Wisconsin state legislature to discuss opioid addiction.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will permanently shutter one of its three abortion clinics in the state, leaving Madison and Milwaukee as the only cities in Wisconsin offering abortions… Five Planned Parenthood health centers have closed in Wisconsin since Gov. Scott Walker eliminated state funding for the organization in 2011, though none were facilities that provided abortions. The Appleton clinic will be the sixth to close.

State lawmakers said they want to screen more children for mental illness and expand mental health clinics in schools following a USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin series. A spokesman for Gov. Scott Walker said Walker was not available for an interview and would reveal any initiatives related to mental health services in his budget proposal early next year. Walker injected unprecedented funding for mental health care in his 2013-15 budget, but did not propose expansions of the same level for the current cycle. “Improving mental health services continues to be a priority for the governor,” spokesman Tom Evenson wrote in an email.

Gov. Scott Walker has appointed former Walworth County health official Linda Seemeyer to head the state Department of Health Services. Walker on Thursday announced Seemeyer as the replacement for Kitty Rhoades who died in June.

Walker has signed one law addressing youth mental health, with plans to sign just one more, but he didn’t say there was more legislation he wanted to see on the subject. “That’s always the careful thing in government is just, how many bills do we pass to say we’re dealing with it, isn’t as important as what do we actually do,” Walker said… In an interview with USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, Walker said he would consider several initiatives in the 2017-18 budget, including incentives for attracting and retaining mental health professionals, funding for satellite clinics in schools, and expanded support for integrated health care. “Helping people early on, certainly as young people but also those who later in life are dealing with challenges in mental health issues, is really valuable not only from a quality of life standpoint,” Walker said. “It’s valuable because many times, with appropriate care and assistance they can be actively engaged in the workforce and it’s good not just for them and their families; it’s good for society.”

Wisconsin’s decision last week to challenge a fee imposed by the Affordable Care Act set up a comparison not lost on advocates who support the law.The fee has cost the state about $23 million so far. In contrast, Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature’s opposition to the law is projected to cost $678.6 million in state tax dollars through the 2017 fiscal year.

Gov. Scott Walker signed two bills Thursday that cut by several million dollars a year the amount of public money that goes to Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. “We want to make sure as taxpayers whether it’s state funds or federal funds that come through the State of Wisconsin that they’re used in the way that’s responsible and reasonable,” Walker said before signing the bills, which he said would withhold money to “controversial entities like Planned Parenthood.” One bill restricts how much Planned Parenthood can be reimbursed for prescription drugs, stripping it of an estimated $4 million a year, according to Planned Parenthood. A second measure is expected to cut another $3.5 million in government payments to Planned Parenthood because it provides abortions. Walker signed the bills at Life’s Connection, a clinic in Waukesha specializing in abortion alternatives.

Nelson said engaging Wisconsinites at the local level to ensure they get health care before Jan. 31 is important because Wisconsin is one of 19 states that did not expand Medicaid. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker rejected the expansion in 2013, instead implementing a plan to move 77,000 state residents off BadgerCare, the state’s Medicaid program, and into the subsidized private health care plans set up by ACA. Another 83,000 childless adults, who were not on Medicaid because of the program enrollment cap, were then moved into BadgerCare. Walker defended his decision, saying the federal government could not cover the costs of Medicaid in the future because of the national debt.

Walker maintains that he has consistently opposed abortion in all cases, even though he signed a 20-week abortion ban in July that includes an exception for the life of a mother. He had already changed his mind once on that exception. In the 1990s as a state legislator, he told anti-abortion group Pro-Life Wisconsin that he supported it, but since 2000 he has told the group he opposed it.During his short-lived presidential campaign and again in a recent interview with reporters, Walker laid out a defense of his position. “You can protect both the life of the mother and the life of the child,” Walker said. “Now I’ve supported and signed legislation that made emergency exceptions for the life of the mother, but … that’s a false choice. There are plenty of medical options that allow you to provide for both.” Bioethicists and doctors who study the issue and train OB/GYNs in what to do in such situations say it’s true medical advancements in recent decades have reduced the number of cases in which a choice is necessary. But they also argue doctors and families still occasionally face that choice. “The governor is mistaken if he’s claiming that kind of case never occurs,” said Lawrence Hinman, a bioethicist and professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of San Diego. “Politically, my guess is, it’s wishful thinking. If the choice between the life of the mother and the life of the fetus never occurs, then we don’t have to get too upset about this language one way or the other.” …Walker answered yes to that question in 2000, 2006, 2010 and 2012. That was a change from his response on the questionnaire when he ran for Assembly in 1994, 1996 and 1998 when he said he supported an exception for the life of a mother, Sande said. Walker told the reporters the only thing that has changed over the past 20 years, is “it’s become clear to me and to many others that you can do both.” During the 2014 election, Walker didn’t fill out the survey, forfeiting a shot at the group’s endorsement. He also drew fire from liberal groups — and later from conservatives during his run for president — for a political ad in which he touted being “pro-life” but also signing a bill “that leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor.”

Governor Walker, before he withdrew from the presidential race, said he thought abortion should be forbidden even if the mother dies,” Judge Richard Posner said during arguments. “Is that kind of official Wisconsin policy?” “That perhaps is Governor Walker’s personal opinion,” but it’s not the state’s policy, responded Assistant Attorney General Brian Keenan. The GOP governor, who dropped out of the presidential race last week, said in August that choosing between the life of a mother and a fetus was a “false choice” and that better options were always available.

WALKER RHETORIC: “I’ve always been pro-life and I’ve got a position I think is consistent with many Americans out there.”

After being criticized by right-wing power brokers for a 2014 ad in which he moderated his stance on abortion, Gov. Scott Walker has quickly moved to sign the dangerous abortion ban he asked lawmakers to pass without exceptions for rape or incest.

Speaking straight to camera in a television ad for his 2014 gubernatorial election, Scott Walker in his own words told Wisconsin he supported leaving, “the final decision to a woman and her doctor.” After being criticized for the ad by right-wing power brokers he needs to win the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, Gov. Scott Walker called for a new abortion ban in Wisconsin. The State Assembly gave final passage to that ban today and in the process interfered in the intensely personal decisions of women to terminate a wanted pregnancy and put their judgment before medical professionals to boost Gov. Walker’s political ambition.

Gov. Scott Walker said Monday he will sign a proposed 20-week abortion ban whether or not it includes an exemption for cases of rape or incest. Walker, who had previously expressed support for the bill that's on a fast track in the Wisconsin Legislature, said it didn't matter whether there was an exemption. As introduced, there is none in the bill.

In a recent radio interview nationally recognized women’s reproductive health expert, Dr. Douglas Laube, said the new abortion ban proposed by legislative Republicans and supported by Gov. Scott Walker (Assembly Bill 237/Senate Bill 179) could force a woman terminating a pregnancy to save her life to undergo an invasive cesarean section (c-section) surgery that dramatically increases the chance of injury to or death of the mother.

On his first day as governor of Wisconsin, Walker authorized a state lawsuit challenging Obama's signature health care law and, in part because of the success of states' legal challenges to the federal Affordable Care Act, later opted not to use federal money under that law to expand state health programs.

SYKES: You may have a major decision coming up in a few months. If the Supreme Court rules in this King v. Burwell case that nobody in Wisconsin can continue to receive federal Obamacare subsidies, there is going to be tremendous pressure on Republican governors — including you — to create a state exchange. What are you gonna do? Do you have contingency plans in place? WALKER: We’re gonna push back. This is a problem that was created by this president and the Congress that was in the majority at that time. There’s gonna be incredible pressure — we heard it about a month and a half ago when I was at the White House with all the other governors from across the country. The president doesn’t have a fallback plan. But this is not something the state created. This is something the federal government — this president and the Congress created. They’ve gotta come up with a solution.

“Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, in the lead-up to an expected presidential bid, is continuing a push to align himself with the most conservative elements of the Republican Party, writing in an email to supporters on Monday that the United States should move forward with “bold conservative reforms to improve health care,” in place of the Affordable Care Act. The ACA, despite concerted efforts by congressional Republicans and GOP-controlled state legislatures to undermine the law, has added 16.4 million people to health insurance rolls since October 2013. Walker’s email, written on the five-year anniversary of the ACA, also known as Obamacare, lambasts the health-care reform law and President Obama (emphasis his):Obamacare gets a failing grade and for once…just once…I wish President Obama would admit that he was wrong. We told him so but he refused to listen.President Obama is turning the most advanced and successful healthcare system in the world upside down.Five years into this policy debacle, the American people are saying, “So Far, So Bad.” The facts tell a different story. Not only have millions of citizens gained access to health insurance, but hospital costs have shot down by 20 percent across all states, and by 26 percent in states that have expanded Medicaid—a key element of President Obama’s health-care law.

“A federal judge on Friday struck down a Wisconsin law requiring doctors performing abortions to get hospital-admitting privileges, concluding that the measure was enacted primarily to provide an obstacle for women seeking abortions. U.S. District Judge William Conley, who earlier had put the law on hold, ruled that the 2013 law is unconstitutional. He issued a permanent injunction blocking its enforcement. "The only reasonable conclusion is that the legislation was motivated by an improper purpose, namely to restrict the availability of abortion services in Wisconsin," Conley wrote.”

One Wisconsin Now is warning New Hampshire voters to beware this weekend when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker visits to audition for the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination. Behind Walker’s rhetoric of economic recovery and courageous, principled action is a trail of deceit, cronyism, corruption and incompetence that includes a sagging state economy, mismanaged budgets, criminal investigations and payoffs to special interests – topped off with politically expedient flip-flops pandering to the most extreme Tea Party wing of the GOP.

“Shifting his tone to reassure social conservatives, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker declared Tuesday that he intends to sign a state law in the coming months that bans abortion after 20 weeks. In an open letter to the Susan B. Anthony List, the likely Republican presidential candidate also said that he supports “similar legislation” now stalled in Congress. “My policies throughout my career have earned a 100 percent rating with pro-life groups in Wisconsin,” Walker writes. “As the Wisconsin legislature moves forward in the coming session, further protections for mother and child are likely to come to my desk in the form of a bill to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks. I will sign that bill when it gets to my desk and support similar legislation on the federal level.”

“Life is a value I learned from my parents, and it’s a value I have cherished every day, predating my time in politics. My policies throughout my career have earned a 100% rating with pro-life groups in Wisconsin. Just in my first term I signed numerous pieces of pro-life legislation and I will continue working for every life...We prohibited abortion from being covered by health plans in a health exchange.”

“As of last fall, BadgerCare had added about 97,500 adults without children who were below this cutoff of 100% of the federal poverty level, with state taxpayers covering a little more than 40% of the cost and federal money paying the rest. Meanwhile, the state has dropped about 57,000 adults from BadgerCare with incomes between 100% and 133% of the poverty level. The governor said in 2013 that the great majority of those adults losing their BadgerCare would receive subsidized coverage by buying it on the private market or through an online federal marketplace created under the health care law. So far, only about one in three has done that.”

“Under Obamacare, federal taxpayers would have paid 100% of the cost for the adults that the state is bringing onto BadgerCare if Wisconsin hadn't dropped its coverage of the adults with somewhat higher incomes. The federal government's share eventually would drop to 90% of the cost. The decision to reject that federal money is estimated to have a net cost to the state of more than $100 million in the current two-year budget. The extra federal money would have allowed the state to cover an estimated 84,700 more people through BadgerCare.”

“Some recipients of public benefits, including Medicaid, unemployment and food stamps, would be required to undergo drug testing, under budget proposal announced Thursday by Gov. Scott Walker. The governor rolled out his “workforce readiness plan” Thursday ahead of the scheduled unveiling of his 2015-17 state budget proposal on Feb. 3. The proposals announced Thursday are aimed at providing more workers for “high-need” fields such as manufacturing, Walker said. Drug testing could affect tens of thousands of Wisconsinites receiving benefits; those failing drug tests would be offered free drug treatment and job training, the governor said...Drug testing the unemployed would apply only for people “for whom suitable work is only available in certain occupations,” Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said. Information on which jobs or job seekers would be subject to drug testing was not immediately available. About 40,000 people currently receive unemployment benefits. The budget also will include language seeking permission from the federal government to test all “able-bodied” adults without dependents on FoodShare, as well as all childless adults on Medicaid. Some broad-based programs in other states that tested all recipients have been halted after courts found them unconstitutional.

“NEWCAP and Family Planning Health Services, as well as other organizations that provide reproductive health services in the state, contend they were paid for contraceptives and other prescription drugs at a rate agreed upon and set by the Department of Health Services in 2009. "We've been following the instructions we have been given, and we've been following them for five years," said Molly Fuller, president and chief executive of Family Planning Health Services. All of the family planning clinics, including those run by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, are paid the same rate by the state. "We are all doing it the same way," said Nicole Safar, director of policy and legal advocacy for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. The Office of the Inspector General's contention, first reported by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, has raised more questions than answers. How could the clinics overbill for contraceptives and other prescription drugs when the state sets the payment rate? And if the state did pay the clinics too much for the drugs, how could it go undetected for five years? The Department of Health Services isn't saying. The department declined to comment on the audits or explain how it pays family planning clinics for birth-control bills and other prescription drugs. Nor has it answered questions raised by the family planning organizations in their response to the audits.

“The ad alludes to a July 2013 Wisconsin law that requires women seeking an abortion to get an ultrasound -- either transabdominally, which is done externally, or transvaginally. Wisconsin is among two dozen states that require an ultrasound before an abortion is performed. In Wisconsin, exceptions are made in cases of sexual assault or medical emergency. The governor’s office praised the measure, saying it "improves a woman's ability to make an informed choice that will protect her physical and mental health now and in the future." The law was opposed by the Wisconsin Medical Society, among others. The society said the measure as a "direct infringement on the patient-physician relationship" and for injecting "non-evolving government mandates into medical science."...The law doesn’t mandate transvaginal ultrasounds, rather it says the woman seeking an abortion can choose either a transvaginal or transabdominal ultrasound. But medical professionals say that the new requirement, as a practical matter, means some women have to get a transvaginal ultrasound.”

Walker has led the way on a "no exceptions" stance for Wisconsin in the past. As a state lawmaker, in 1998, he co-authored a bill that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks, even in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s health was in jeopardy. Physicians who performed the procedure would have faced life in prison. In 2010, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board that he is completely opposed to abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.

 In a recent campaign television ad Gov. Scott Walker, on record as opposed to abortion even in cases of rape or incest, speaks directly to the camera and tries to minimize the impact of “the bill”. Based on his long track record of supporting, authoring, voting for and signing into law measures that restrict women's access to healthcare services including abortion, One Wisconsin Now is asking Gov. Walker to clarify which bill he was referring to in his TV ad.

 In an attempt to appear moderate while also keeping his 2016 Republican presidential primary ambitions alive, career politician Scott Walker has taken to the airwaves and the internet to try to cover up his extreme views, while also touting them. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that Gov. Walker's 20-year demonstrated record of extremism on women's reproductive health issues and a “100 percent” rating from an extremist group are at odds with his new TV ad in which he speaks directly to camera.

“A fifth Planned Parenthood health center closed in Wisconsin on Thursday due to state budget cuts that directed family planning money away from the provider. The Fond du Lac clinic did not provide abortion services. It offered birth control, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, pregnancy tests, annual exams and breast cancer screenings to over 1,000 patients a year. A spokesperson for the clinic blamed the closure directly on Gov. Scott Walker (R), whose 2011-2013 budget eliminated over $1 million in state funding to Planned Parenthood clinics.”

“On Monday, a spokesperson from Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s administration told the conservative website Media Trackers that Wisconsin will no longer require employers to follow the state law mandating coverage. Current state law in Wisconsin mandates that companies with insurance plans covering certain services, like outpatient care, preventive treatment, and prescription drugs, must also cover contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration and prescribed by a health-care provider.”

 In his first state budget in 2011, Gov. Scott Walker unsuccessfully attempted to repeal the state law guaranteeing contraceptive equity for women in their health care. This week the Walker administration announced it is halting enforcement of Wisconsin’s equity law, using the Hobby Lobby decision as justification, despite being quoted as saying, “It really hasn’t been an issue for us.”

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is not simply a conservative, public interest law firm. It is a virtual extension of the political apparatus surrounding Gov. Scott Walker, engaging in ‘issue litigation’ to advance and protect his interests.

“Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) administration announced Friday evening that it was delaying its controversial restructuring of a popular health care program for low-income women, after an outcry from women's health advocates..." Stakeholders in the provider and coordinator communities have reached out to us with questions, concerns, and suggestions about how the proposed model would work. We have listened carefully, and have modified our original proposal based on those concerns," McKeown wrote to local health offices, WWWP providers and WWWP coordinators. By Dec. 1, the state will begin to select the providers who will form the new network. By April 1, 2015, it plans to have the new structure of providers and regional coordinators in place, with everything up and running by July.”

Walker's county and campaign staffs collaborated in determining how to respond to one issue after another — sexual assaults of patients at the complex, security lapses, controversial remarks by Milwaukee County's mental health administrator. At one point, Walker's campaign manager complained that a county lawyer needed to "think political for a change." Walker played an active role in how to respond, even when he insisted on staying at a distance publicly.

"We need to continue to keep me out of the story as this is a process issue and not a policy matter," Walker wrote on March 27, 2010. The issue at that point was fallout from stories on a patient sexual assault of another patient that resulted in a pregnancy. [...] In this exchange, Walker was careful to send the email to personal accounts — not official county email accounts — of his county staffers. "We need to be 100% certain that everything is working and that all state and federal regulations are in place," Walker wrote. He also directed mental health administrators to "keep us in the loop on all issues going on at BHD," referring to the county's Behavioral Health Division. And Walker suggested reaching out to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial writers, noting: "The next problem will be editorials and this can nip it in the butt."

John Chianelli, then administrator of the county's Behavioral Health Division, was quoted telling county supervisors that sexual assaults in mixed-gender wards were a trade-off for more violent assaults that would happen in all-male psychiatric units. Walker's staff furiously exchanged views on what to do. Gilkes, Walker's campaign manager, told Rindfleisch: "We won't be commenting at all." Rindfleisch emailed back that Walker wasn't likely to comment and that "it's not really (Walker's) place" to weigh in on Chianelli's remarks. An effort through a lawyer hired by the county to handle patient abuse claims might help to discourage further comment by supervisors, Rindfleisch wrote. A Journal Sentinel reporter "doesn't get any traction if he can't get anyone to say anything," she said. Exchanges on May 10 among Walker's campaign and county staff ended with Walker drafting a statement to be issued by a county official saying "any form of violence at the Mental Health Complex is unacceptable." Chianelli was later demoted, then resigned.

Gilkes told Rindfleisch to prod a county lawyer — then-Deputy Corporation Counsel Timothy Schoewe — to take a tougher stance. "Just do me a favor and tell him that we are getting the crap kicked out of us by the County Board," Gilkes wrote. "At some point I would like him to stop being a lawyer and think political for a change and let us fight back." The emails released Wednesday included a message by Mark Cameli, a private lawyer for the county, attempting to persuade Journal Sentinel Managing Editor George Stanley to withhold publication of an article about Chianelli's remarks to supervisors. They were made during a closed session but later disclosed by several supervisors, including Lynne De Bruin. She said danger to patients outweighed her obligation to keep quiet about the discussion and provided notes she took from the session and a letter she wrote to a reporter. Stanley told Cameli, "There is no way a letter from an elected county official to a county administrator is protected by attorney-client privilege. It's a public record, period."

Rindfleisch was sarcastic about the Mental Health Complex issue in a Sept. 2, 2010, email to a friend. "Last week was a nightmare," she wrote. "A bad story every day on our looney bin. Doctors having sex with patients, patients getting knocked up. This has been coming for months and I've unofficially been dealing with it. So, it's been crazy (pun intended)." Rindfleisch seemed unconcerned the mental health controversies would hurt Walker's chances with voters in the governor's race. In a Sept. 1, 2010, email she said she expected Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to make the issue "the center of his campaign" for governor against Walker. She agreed with Joan Hansen — then a county official and later a deputy secretary for the state Department of Children and Families — that Barrett would lose. "Yep," Rindfleisch replied. "No one cares about crazy people." The emails show how Walker's campaign staff dictated county personnel moves.

Instructions from Scott Walker's campaign manager were explicit: Delay settlement of a long-standing legal case over the starvation-relateddeath of Cindy Anczak at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex. "Could care less what it is on," Walker campaign manager Keith Gilkes wrote in an Oct. 22, 2010, email exchange with a Walker aide at the county, referring to the claim's legal basis. "Keep it buried until Nov. 2nd and then hopefully they'll settle." Walker went on to win his term as governor that Nov. 2. Anczak's parents, Jean and Myron Anczak of Greendale, would wait another full year before the county approved a $125,000 settlement. The emails were part of thousands released last week in an appeal by Kelly Rindfleisch of her 2012 felony conviction for misconduct in office. Rindfleisch was Walker's deputy chief of staff during his last year as county executive.

After Chianelli was demoted for his handling of sexual assaults at the complex, Gilkes wrote to Walker's staff about the need to fire him: "I think we throw John under the bus for covering up how dysfunctional the place is." The campaign took a hard line on reacting to the sexual assault scandal, even as county staff members pleaded for mercy for Chianelli. "I feel bad, too, but the reality is that this needs to be a clean break," Gilkes wrote. "Now is not the time to be exchanging accolades."

Asking corporate special interests, “how can we love you more?” in closed-door meetings may be paying off with adulation from corporate CEOs for Gov. Walker’s Administration, but for the rest of us the state economy continues to lag the nation and region in economic growth. A recent survey of an elite slice of big business CEOs being touted by Gov. Walker is at odds with the economic reality for the rest of the state.

Legislation approved by Walker and GOP lawmakers requires some 77,000 adults in BadgerCare with incomes above the poverty line — $23,550 for a family of four — to be dropped from that state Medicaid coverage....Democrats note that some GOP governors have extended Medicaid coverage more broadly in their states by taking extra federal money available for that health program under the law. Expanding coverage in that way would save the state up to $119 million through June 2015, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.Elizabeth Schinderle, a spokeswoman for CMS in Chicago, made the same point Thursday. "This policy is unfortunately not the long-term solution we would like to see. As a result of the governor's decision to not expand Medicaid coverage, many people in Wisconsin will not have access to affordable coverage because of state-imposed limits on enrollment. We urge Wisconsin to fix this avoidable gap in coverage by expanding Medicaid and taking advantage of generous federal funding," she said in an email.

 “S is For Shill,” a new report from One Wisconsin Now, in association with the ProgressNow network and the Center for Media and Democracy, exposes a web of right-wing funders advancing a radical privatization agenda through the use of Wisconsin-based front groups. In addition to support from the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, headed by Gov. Walker's campaign co-chair Michael Grebe, innocuously named groups like the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) and the MacIver Institute are part of the larger State Policy Network (SPN), a right-wing, dark money funded pro-privatization propaganda effort.

Nearly 15,000 individuals have voiced their opposition to the anti-woman agenda of Gov. Walker and the state big business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, signing an online petition telling them to, “Respect Wisconsin Women.” EMILY's List, the nation's largest resource for women in politics, and One Wisconsin Now sponsored the effort.

As Gov. Scott Walker and the right wing noise machine shift into overdrive in their efforts to boost sagging opinion of his job performance, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that, try as they might, the fact remains on issue after issue, the Walker administration has been an abysmal failure.

 The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics has released a new round of national job numbers. According to the data, Wisconsin ranks in the bottom third of states and significantly lags the national job growth rate. The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross:

Today Gov. Scott Walker “jets” to New York to attend a fundraiser, hosted by Woody Johnson, billionaire owner of the New York Jets football team, for the benefit of the Republican National Committee. Meanwhile back in Wisconsin, news outlets are reporting that the Walker administration is mailing letters to approximately 92,000 Wisconsin citizens notifying them that, because of provisions in his 2013-15 state budget, they will be losing their state BadgerCare health insurance.

“Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill Friday requiring doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges, and abortion clinics responded by immediately suing state officials over the measure. The law — signed Friday by Walker in a private ceremony — would cut the number of clinics offering abortions in Wisconsin from four to two, and one of the remaining clinics would have to dramatically cut the number of abortions it provides, according to the operators of the clinics. "When women don't have access to safe, legal abortions, there are health consequences and women die," said Teri Huyck, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.”

Gov. Scott Walker quietly signed a contentious Republican bill Friday that would require women seeking abortions to undergo an ultrasound and ban doctors who lack admitting privileges at nearby hospitals from performing the procedures. Opponents contend legislators shouldn't force women to undergo any medical procedure and the bill will force two abortion clinics where providers lack admitting privileges to shut their doors. The law takes effect Monday. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit within hours of the signing alleging the bill is unconstitutional and asking for a temporary restraining order blocking the measure.”

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. The failures of today are, sadly, not new. In Walker's time as Milwaukee County Executive, local economic development efforts were bungled and services for the most vulnerable were mismanaged and neglected.

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. In today's installment, as the Republican controlled legislature is poised to adopt even more radical, right-wing legislation attacking women's health care, the lowlights of Gov. Walker's abysmal record on the issue are up.

OWN is highlighting different Walker fails over the course of 20 days. Day two discusses right wing legislation attacking women’s health care. Scot Ross commented, “When given the choice between protecting women’s access to safe and legal health care services or pandering to the most extreme right-wing of the Republican Party, Scott Walker has sided with the extremists over Wisconsin women every time.”

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. In today's installment, Gov. Walker's anti-voter record is “highlighted”.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross wondered whether Wisconsin Republicans and their businesses that have paid no state income tax in recent years will be joining the rest of us doing our part to help pay for services like education, health care, public safety and roads.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross said Rep. Paul Ryan’s call for the repeal of ObamaCare, and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson’s support for legislation to defund health insurance exchanges, seem targeted to undermine Gov. Walker’s latest health care scheme in the 2013-15 state budget.

“Planned Parenthood will be closing four rural Wisconsin locations between April and July because the nonprofit health care organization has lost $1.1 million in state funding, officials announced Monday. The centers in Beaver Dam, Johnson Creek, Chippewa Falls and Shawano don't get enough private funding to stay financially viable without the state support, which the Legislature eliminated in the 2011-'13 state budget. The locations are the only reproductive health care providers in their communities, officials said during a conference call from Madison...Planned Parenthood officials stressed that the $1.1 million the organization lost in state funding for nine counties mainly paid for infrastructure costs. The money was never used to provide abortion services, which would have been against state and federal laws, officials said.”

If the federal government keeps its current commitments, Gov. Scott Walker's plan for avoiding a full expansion of the BadgerCare program under the federal health care law would cost Wisconsin taxpayers roughly $250 million more through 2020, under preliminary estimates by the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office. In addition to lower state costs, the full expansion of the Medicaid health program would also cover tens of thousands more people than the Republican governor's proposal.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding reports that Gov. Walker will announce he will reject an expansion of federal Medicaid coverage in Wisconsin and a radical roll back of state health insurance assistance at the state big business lobby day:

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements in response to Gov. Walker’s announcement on mental health funding in his 2013-15 budget proposal:

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding the upcoming decision of Gov. Walker whether or not to take billions of dollars in federal assistance to expand health care coverage to 170,000 currently uninsured Wisconsinites:

• Due to the Republican plan to reject Medicaid expansion, taxpayers will pay $206 million more to provide healthcare to 84,700 fewer people
• Instead of using a balanced approach, this budget takes a surplus built on record cuts to public schools and goes into future deficit in order to give a tax cut targeted toward the wealthiest people
• Rolling back consumer protections to favor predatory payday loan shops, cable companies & makers of lead paint

A report that Gov. Walker’s gubernatorial campaign manager directed his Milwaukee County staff to “drag out” fulfilling requests under the state open records law for information related to a tragic incident involving the death of a young boy outside a county owned facility may not be an isolated incident, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. Numerous open record requests made by One Wisconsin Now experienced the same fate, with delays of up to six months and the charging exorbitant fees for simple information.

As expected, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced today that he will not attempt to create a state health care insurance exchange for Wisconsin residents and will instead defer that chore to the federal government. To comply with the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, the governors of the states must inform the Obama administration today whether or not they will pursue federal funding to help them establish the exchanges. If they do not wish to form their own exchanges, the federal government will create the exchanges for them. “Gov. Walker decided that his chances for higher office in the tea party-controlled Republican Party are more important than doing his job,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now executive director. “Wisconsin knows that Gov. Walker wants big insurance companies to be allowed to deny people with pre-existing conditions access to care because big insurance owns Scott Walker.”

Gov. Scott Walker entered the 2016 Republican Party presidential primary by refusing to do his job and rejecting a state-based health care exchange under the federal Affordable Health Care Act. Walker’s actions represent the governor’s shameful partisan political scheming in the hopes of higher office, according to One Wisconsin Now.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding the 100th birthday of the late corporate propagandist Milton Friedman. Many of the failures of Gov. Scott Walker can be traced to the policies espoused by Friedman, most notably massive tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, while attacking public investments and public employees.

While Gov. Scott Walker refuses to implement health care exchanges in Wisconsin, Minnesota’s progress on offering consumers and businesses the opportunity to leverage their resources to purchase affordable, private health insurance will, according to recent news reports, create 100 new jobs at Waukesha County based Connecture, Inc.

The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld President Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which is commonly referred to as “Obamacare.” ne Wisconsin Now deputy director Mike Browne said, “One of Gov. Walker's first acts upon taking office was authorizing the use of taxpayer dollars to sue to repeal Obamacare. Thankfully, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the arguments of Gov. Walker and other opponents of health insurance reform. 

One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne released the following statements on the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding “ObamaCare.”

“Gov. Scott Walker signed four bills relating to women’s reproductive health and pay equality without the usual public fanfare last Thursday, a move that came under fire from Democrats and advocacy groups. Walker signed the four bills into law on Thursday and announced their signing, along with 47 other bills, in a statement released the following day. The first three bills relate to abortions in the state, and the fourth relates to women’s health issues, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau. One piece of legislation repeals Wisconsin’s Healthy Youth Act.”

“The legislature’s budget committee on Wednesday signed off on changes to BadgerCare. Some 44,000 BadgerCare enrollees will see premium increases, while more than 22,000 will be dropped from the state-run Medicaid program. Representative Corey Mason questioned Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis Smith. “What is your response to the very real impact that may occur for the people of Wisconsin who may not be able to afford health care?” Mason said many of his constituents will struggle with the changes. “They’re on the bubble right now about whether or not they are eligible for BadgerCare. When they look in the private market what they find are plans that are $1700 a month with a $5000 deductible.” “We have families today, at a hundred and fifty percent of poverty, on BadgerCare, paying ten dollars a month for their coverage,” said Smith. “And I have people who work for me, as state employees earning less income than that, paying $200 a month. How do I say that is equitable? What are we saying to the neighbor next door who’s paying over $300 a month for their coverage?” Smith said no children in Wisconsin will lose their BadgerCare eligibility, under terms of the plan negotiated with federal officials.”

The federal government has rejected Wisconsin’s request to phase in a requirement that health insurers spent 80 cents of every dollar in premiums on medical care, one of the provisions of the Obama administration’s health care reform. Gov. Scott Walker’s administration wanted to implement the change over three years for health insurance sold to individuals and families. It had also proposed that health insurers be required to spend a minimum of 71 percent on medical claims in 2011 and 74 percent this year. The state insurance commissioner contended that companies might be forced to leave the Wisconsin market if the so-called 80-20 rule were immediately implemented. But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the state failed to provide data to support that contention, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report. The agency said 12 of the 15 insurance companies that sell individual insurance in the state are already at or near the 80 percent spending mark, and two of the other three companies are expected to meet the requirement for 2011.

Governor Scott Walker failed to tackle Wisconsin’s jobs crisis - posting six straight months of job losses here while nationally jobs are being added - and is now poised to take on “the truth” in his second State of the State address.

Here's the challenge: The state cut funding to operate economic support services by 16.8 percent, while at the same time requiring counties to contribute the same amount to services that they did in 2009. In his budget repair bill, Gov. Scott Walker proposed taking all of those duties away from counties. Medical Assistance, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program -- formerly referred to as food stamps -- BadgerCare and subsidized childcare, consolidating them at the state level, and providing service through a call-center model. A private company, not state workers, would oversee programs. Gov. Scott Walker's administration estimated the proposal would save $48 million each year and eliminate 270 state positions. Previous efforts to run programs such as BadgerCare out of centralized offices didn't work. The Legislative Audit Bureau gave the state performance in operating BadgerCare a dismal review. So counties offered the state an alternative: Counties would continue to provide the services but they would form income maintenance consortiums. The lead county in each consortium would work with the state, and each county within the consortium would continue to provide face-to-face services for their residents. In addition, each county would provide a call center to answer questions and process change orders for all of the consortium's clients.

“Beth Kaplan, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health Services, told Mother Jones that no decision has been made on the contract and would not comment on why it might not be continued. But Tanya Atkinson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, says they were told that the state is cutting them out of the program. "They have very clearly stated that they were ending the contract with us," she says. (UPDATE: Walker himself has confirmed that the state is ending its contract with Planned Parenthood...The move puts in question what will happen to the more than 1,000 women that access the Well Woman Program through Planned Parenthood in Winnebago, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, and Outagamie counties every year.)

When Dennis Smith, Gov. Scott Walker's secretary of the state Department of Health Services (DHS), conducted a public outreach tour to explain how he wanted to cut $467 million from Medicaid programs, he didn't mention how many kids from low-income families would lose their health care coverage. Instead, Smith focused on "fairness," and asked that low-income families pay their "fair share" for their BadgerCare coverage. Smith didn't mention that 29,000 children—plus 34,000 adults—would likely lose their BadgerCare coverage if his "reforms" are implemented. Another 104,000 adults would be required to pay more toward their Medicaid coverage. Smith is asking the federal government for a waiver to implement his reform of Medicaid programs, something the Republican-led Legislature authorized him to do since it failed to fully fund the program in the state budget. If Smith doesn't receive the federal waiver by Dec. 31, the Legislature will allow him to drop more than 53,000 adult BadgerCare recipients from the program in July 2012. Although Smith's plan would reduce state spending by $90 million, it would also mean losing more than $135 million in federal funding for Medicaid, since the federal government pays about 60% of the Medicaid costs. In contrast, kicking 53,000 individuals from the program next year would result in a $60 million reduction in state spending and a loss of $90 million in federal money.

On November 16, 2011, Walker signed a bill into law that weakens regulations of nursing homes, prohibiting “dual enforcement” of federal and state requirements and give nursing homes more time to pay citations. The Assembly passed the bill 70-22, and the Senate 24-7. Walker signed the bill into law on November 16, 2011. (2011 SB 212, introduced 10/5/2011; Senate Roll Call; Assembly Roll Call)

Gov. Scott Walker continues to choose corporate special interest donors over the people of Wisconsin — offering a scheme that would cut health care for 65,000 Wisconsinites to pay off part of his $2.3 billion in new tax breaks for corporations and the rich passed since he took office.

The bill, announced Monday, would put the Legislature back in charge of deciding costs and eligibility associated with Medicaid and Badgercare, essentially taking the state back to a time before Gov. Scott Walker took office. The proposal comes in response to potential cuts announced last week by Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis Smith, which outlined changes in care for more than 200,000 people and the possibility of cutting another 53,000 off the rolls entirely…Smith announced a series of cost-cutting measures last week, most of them aimed at addressing the $554 million needed to balance the state's medical assistance programs. Under his plan, some 215,000 children and adults would be shifted to lower-cost state plans. If the state fails to receive a federal waiver allowing it to change eligibility requirements, some 53,000 adults could be dropped from coverage altogether.

“There will be thousands and thousands of people across Wisconsin to lose their health care coverage,” One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross says. Liberal group One Wisconsin now is blasting the cuts, which include $100 million from Family Care and $54 million from Badger Care Plus, which helps the uninsured pay for health care coverage. “Health care costs rise as people aren’t able to get affordable care when they need it most,” Ross says.

To fill a half-billion dollar budget hole in state health programs, Gov. Scott Walker's administration wants to raise premiums sharply for some families and shift hundreds of thousands of residents to lower-cost state plans or private plans. Officials said they do not intend to leave participants without any path to coverage. State officials said there is now a $554 million estimated deficit - $110 million more than previously projected - through June 2013 in state Medicaid health programs, which provide everything from doctor's visits for poor families to nursing home care for the elderly. To close that gap and control fast-growing costs, state Health Services Secretary Dennis Smith said that the state would avoid dropping state residents with no other options for health insurance. Instead, officials will look at shifting more than 200,000 state Medicaid recipients into a lower-cost plan with fewer benefits.

“Among measures cheered by anti-abortion groups, the 2011-13 biennial budget prohibits any entity that provides abortions at any of its facilities from participating in the state's family planning program. The change renders Planned Parenthood, which performs abortions at three Wisconsin sites, ineligible for those funds and means an annual loss of about $1 million to that organization…Harrington said the loss of the family planning money "seriously jeopardizes" the future of nine Planned Parenthood health centers in the state that do not perform abortions but provide thousands of uninsured men and women with services such as cancer screenings and breast exams.”

The Republican-crafted spending plan reshapes all corners of Wisconsin life, from how much Medicaid will cost to auto title loans to honoring former President Ronald Reagan to even drinking alcohol at the movies. Here’s a look at some of the ways the budget will reshape the state’s priorities and touch lives across Wisconsin:...If you’re a child of an illegal immigrant, going to college in Wisconsin is about to get much more expensive. The budget ends in-state tuition rates for children of illegal immigrants and forces them to pay out-of-state rates. Those changes will apply to anyone who enrolls for classes after Friday.

Massive attacks against health care, education and middle class priorities launched by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican legislative majority are the focus of a “Run Against Walker,” scheduled at the State Capitol today. The “Run Against Walker,” a run/walk for citizens organized by One Wisconsin Now as part of the “Walkerville” activities on the State Capitol Square, will accommodate both runners and walkers who are united against Walker’s attacks on the middle class.

On May 11, 2011, Walker signed into law reckless health care cutbacks that would allow the state to cut up to 70,000 from Wisconsin health care programs, and could result in deep reductions in benefits for children and seniors. (January 2011 Special Session Assembly Bill 11; Assembly Roll Call; Senate Roll Call)

Walker signed into law a bill that prevented local government's from passing paid sick leave or family medical leave laws that are more inclusive and powerful than the statewide law. The governor signed the bill into law on May 5, 2011. (2011 SB 23, introduced 2/23/11; Senate Roll Call; Assembly Roll Call)

An analysis by One Wisconsin Now shows that companies which currently administer Medicare Part D prescription drug plans in Wisconsin have donated in last several years $1.3 million to the campaigns of Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Governors Association, which spent $5 million to elect Walker in 2010. Actions by Gov. Walker which threaten SeniorCare could hand $100 million to companies administering the more costly federal Medicare Part D program in Wisconsin.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding the desperate actions by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled state legislature to use the government to take away the rights of Wisconsin workers and reward corporations.

“About 55,000 people could lose their health insurance under the state's BadgerCare program, under Gov. Scott Walker's budget plan released Tuesday. Walker's budget also would shrink aid to Wisconsin Works participants and could mean reduced state child care subsidies to low-income families. In an effort to slow the growth in spending on Medicaid, Walker says he will seek permission from the federal government to tighten eligibility standards and would cut off people faster who are found no longer eligible. If the federal government does not give the state permission to toughen its standards in determining who gets Medicaid, the state would eliminate coverage to families that earn more than 133% of the federal poverty level on July 1, 2012. That threshold currently is $24,352 a year for a family of three.”

Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Senate will be flooded with over 16,000 petitions signed by Wisconsinites united against Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts to use the government to take away the rights of workers across Wisconsin.

Gov. Scott Walker’s scheme to allow the government to take away the rights of Wisconsin workers is part of an unbalanced and potentially unconstitutional proposal that would add at least $30 million to the state’s credit card and allow the Governor’s health agency director to slash health care access and raise costs without the approval of the legislature.

Madison— Republican Gov. Scott Walker plans to pay for $140 million in new special interest spending signed into law in January by extending the state’s long term debt in a “scoop and toss” refinancing scheme that will cost untold tens of millions of dollars in additional debt for Wisconsin.

MADISON, Wis. — Despite the state’s $3.3 billion deficit, Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled state legislature have added over $140 million in new special interest spending to that tab. Walker and the Republicans have refused to show the job creation this spending will create.

The Republican plan to give a tax break to high deductible private health savings accounts would increase the deficit $48 million in the next two years, create no jobs and would not increase access to health care. The plan is to be debated today at a joint legislative health committee.

Walker signed into law a 10% across the board cut to base funding for non-staff costs in most of the Department of Health’s programs. Some of those programs are named below. The full list can be found at the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s 2011-13 Comparative Budget Summary, Department of Health Services, page 411.

Wisconsin’s leading anti-healthcare reform advocates, including Scott Walker, Rebecca Kleefisch and Ron Johnson all have the opportunity to refuse government-subsidized health care, and One Wisconsin Now is calling for them to publicly announce whether or not they will be taking advantage of government-subsidized health care in their newly-elected positions.

“Barrett’s campaign, though, points to the first question on the survey: ‘Would you sign legislation that declares that a preborn child has an inalienable right to life from the moment of fertilization forward?...Did Walker know about -- and agree with -- the group’s views on birth control as causing abortion?For the 2010 election, candidates were given survey instructions and a memo entitled "Hormonal Birth Control and its Abortion Causing Effect," according to Sande. That memo clearly lays out the group’s view that "any artificial action that works to destroy a human embryo is abortifacient in nature." It lumps "most if not all birth control drugs and devices" into that category. Sande downplays the chances Pro-Life Wisconsin will succeed in its anti birth-control agenda because it believes society is not ready for it. But a birth control ban is the group’s aim. Its mechanism to get there is "personhood" legislation -- Question 1 on the candidate survey.’”

The Republican Party of Wisconsin’s frivolous complaint to the Government Accountability Board (GAB) regarding its legislative candidates’ support for the Social Security privatization scheme concocted by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Janesville), belies the RPW’s own state platform, which offers incontrovertible support for the so-called “Ryan Roadmap.”

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker refuses to admit he would support a ban on embryonic stem cell research if elected governor, but Walker told supporters in 2005 he would have signed a bill Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed at the time that was a direct threat to embryonic stem cell research. Walker told his supporters of the ban in the November 10, 2005 “Walker Weekly,” an electronic newsletter during his failed previous bid for governor.

“Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, has yet to state publicly what cuts he would make, though his campaign says he will in the coming weeks.” [Appleton Post-Crescent, 6/13/10]

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding Rebecca Kleefisch and Scott Walker’s unseemly television ad criticizing access to affordable health care. In the ad railing against health care reform, Kleefisch talks about her successful cancer treatment, which was diagnosed, treated and financed through the access she has to health care as the spouse of an state elected official. Walker and Kleefisch are supporting a plan that would cut 400,000 working families off the state’s successful BadgerCare plan, which provides affordable health care to working adults and children whose employers don’t offer health care benefits and who can’t afford for-profit health care plans. [WISC-TV, 9/22/10; Wisconsin Department of Health Services]

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s ridiculous smokescreen complaint, intended to divert attention from the numerous ongoing investigations into his top county aides and other mismanagement.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has promised an impossible $3.8 billion in tax breaks, loopholes and shifts he has no way to pay for, a new analysis by One Wisconsin Now shows. Coupled with the state’s conservative predictions of a $2.7 billion projected deficit, Walker would need to slash almost $6.5 billion from education, health care, police and fire protection to give tax breaks and loopholes to the wealthy and big business.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker admitted in a newspaper story today he was unaware of a comprehensive report on the tragedies at the Milwaukee County mental health complex - but that has not stopped him from refusing to release the report to his own county auditors. Walker refused to tell the private legal counsel he hired, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to taxpayers, to release the report to Milwaukee County auditors who have requested it to complete their investigation.

In advance of tonight’s first debate between Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, One Wisconsin Now offered the following questions for County Executive Walker to answer about his tax cut plan for the rich and big business, his support for cutting children and working families from BadgerCare health coverage and his failed management of Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann have repeatedly called for Attorney General JB Van Hollen to be given the authority to intervene in a multi-state effort among Republicans to derail the federal health reform act but are silent on Van Hollen’s seeming unwillingness to represent the state in its effort to challenge a federal court ruling to block funding for life-saving stem cell research.

For a year, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has repeatedly and specifically called for time limits for the state’s BadgerCare health care program to provide coverage to working families. But after repeating the call for time limits during Wednesday night’s gubernatorial debate, Walker is attempting to claim he doesn’t support time limits.

A public interest advocacy group is calling on Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker Monday to take responsibility for his “tragic mismanagement of the county’s Mental Health Complex,” saying Walker has chosen to defend himself by hiring an outside law firm and a public relations specialist, both at taxpayer expense, instead of fixing the problem.

The Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund Political Action Committee (PAC) today announced its dual endorsement of Mark Neumann and Scott Walker for Wisconsin governor....Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund supports candidates for public office who demonstrate a commitment to protect each and every innocent human life – in all circumstances and at all stages of development. To be “100% pro-life” is to know that a human life begins at fertilization and that there may never be a legal exception to an innocent child’s inalienable right to life.”

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker refuses to detail how he will pay for his nearly $2 billion in tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the rich and big business. But he said late last week that wage and benefit cuts for state workers are one way to close the state’s $2 billion-plus projected state deficit. In order to finance both the tax cuts and close the deficit, Walker would need to cut state worker pay and benefits by 42 percent, or slash 29,000 state jobs.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s failed leadership and the disastrous outcome is the subject of an online video produced by One Wisconsin Now as part of its “Scott Walker Failure Files” timeline and information warehouse.

Milwaukee County Scott Walker’s mismanagement of the County Mental Health Complex is under even more scrutiny after tragic reports of yet another patient sexual assault, this time at the hands of a security guard hired as part of Walker’s failed effort to privatize county services.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s latest campaign ad is riddled with falsehoods, distortions and half-truths about his disastrous record for Milwaukee County, according to a fact check of the ad conducted by One Wisconsin Now.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's pandering flip flop on the racist Arizona immigration law has One Wisconsin Now asking whether a similar strategy could get him to answer the question he has refused to answer: How will Scott Walker pay for his $2 billion tax giveaway to benefit the rich and big business? Walker flipped his position from a weekend Associated Press story after his Facebook page was riddled with criticisms by tea party types.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s eight years of failed leadership are highlighted in an interactive timeline documenting his misdeeds, mismanagement and incompetence created by One Wisconsin Now and available at www.ScottWalkerFailureFiles.com.

[Walker] said he was studying whether the state should change eligibility standards for the state’s Medicaid program, which provides health care for the poor, elderly and disabled. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4/13/10]

At Tuesday’s Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce lobbying luncheon Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker will likely find support from the corporate lobby for his $2-billion, budget-busting, deficit-doubling plan for tax breaks that mostly benefit corporations and the wealthiest Wisconsinites. What is less likely, is that Walker will explain which drastic cuts he would make to pay for this failed fiscal strategy, according to One Wisconsin Now.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has strongly opposed measures to provide more Wisconsin children, pregnant mothers and uninsured adults have affordable health care, at the same time taking more than $120,000 in campaign contributions from the health care industry in just the last six months alone.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker wants to double Wisconsin’s projected $2-billion state budget deficit with a series of tax breaks that mostly benefit corporations and high-income people.

As noted in articles above, Pro-Life Wisconsin requires a 100% rating to receive their endorsement. Walker won the endorsement in 2010 by answering yes to this question, among others: “1. Would you sign legislation that bans abortion in all cases? (Pro-Life Wisconsin supports legal protection for all preborn babies, including those conceived in rape and incest. If a physician claims that a mother’s life may be in danger, PLW opposes direct abortion and supports equal care for mother and child. Please see the enclosed memo on why a “life of the mother” exception is dangerous and unnecessary.)”

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s recent call for limits on critical BadgerCare health benefits for low-income or displaced workers and repeated criticism of state spending raises concerns he may favor cuts to BadgerCare programs that cover children and expectant mothers.

“Pharmacists could refuse to fill birth control prescriptions if doing so violates their moral or ethical beliefs under a bill before a state committee. The "conscience clause bill" (AB 168) introduced by Rep. Scott Walker, R-Wauwatosa, is aimed at the so-called "morning after" pill, which stops a pregnancy after unprotected sex, and the abortion drug RU-486. But it also would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense most other forms of birth control, since in some cases things like the pill or intrauterine device (IUD) can prevent the implantation of fertilized eggs. "No person should be forced to engage in the destruction of another person's life, no matter the stage of development," Walker said.”

Provisions of bill would have required women seeking an abortion to be told they could “anonymously and with immunity from liability relinquish custody of her newborn child to a law enforcement officer, an emergency medical technician, or a hospital staff member when the newborn child is 72 hours old or younger.”

Walker voted for Assembly Bill 815, a state prescription drug benefit for seniors making less than 185% of the federal poverty line, at the time approximately $15,000 for a single person. (Assembly Journal)

The bill banned “the use of funds for family planning services and pregnancy counseling to prescribe, dispense or administer a contraceptive prescription drug or device to a minor without parental notification.”

1. sterilization procedures;
2. certain procedures that prevent the implantation of a fertilized human ovum;
3. abortions;
4. experiments or medical procedures that involve the destruction of a human embryo or that involve a human embryo or unborn child but do not relate to the beneficial treatment of the human embryo or unborn child;
5. procedures using fetal tissue or organs;
6. withholding or withdrawing nutrition or hydration under certain circumstances; or
7. acts causing or assisting in the death of an individual, including assisted suicide, euthanasia or mercy killing. There is no exception for an employer to show that the refusal poses an undue hardship.”

The bill cut off any state funding for pro-choice groups and prohibited a state employee while acting within the scope of his or her employment from providing abortion services, promoting, encouraging or counseling in favor of abortion services or make abortion referrals either directly or through an intermediary in any instance other than when an abortion is directly and medically necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman. The bill also prohibited public property from being used in connection with providing or facilitating abortions.

The bill proposed allowing doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care workers to refuse to participate in sterilization, abortion, assisted suicide and other procedures or dispensing emergency contraception or birth control based on their personal religious or moral beliefs.

Walker sponsored 1997 Assembly Bill 220 to criminally ban an abortion procedure that included an exception for the life of the mother, but not her health.

“I won’t shy away from the fact that it had appeal to myself and other conservative members who don’t believe we should fund this, but the broad appeal was financial.”

1. The name of the physician who will perform or induce the abortion.
2. The probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child at the time that the information is given.3. The details of the medical or surgical method that will be used in performing or inducing the abortion.
3. That fetal ultrasound imaging and auscultation of fetal heart tone services are available that enable a pregnant woman to view the image or hear the heartbeat of her unborn child and how the woman may obtain these services if she desires to do so.
4. That if, in the reasonable medical judgment of the physician, the woman's unborn child has reached viability, the physician is required to take all steps necessary under current law to preserve and maintain the life and health of the child.
5. Any other information that a reasonable patient would consider material and relevant to a decision of whether or not to carry a child to birth or to undergo an abortion.
6. That the woman may withdraw her consent to have an abortion at any time before the abortion is performed or induced.
7. That the woman is not required to pay for performance or inducement of the abortion until at least 24 hours have elapsed after provision of the information.

The bill established maximum amounts, “that a claimant may recover for noneconomic damages caused by the negligence of a health care provider or health care provider employee.

The bill, signed in to law in May 1996, expanded “requirements for a woman's informed consent for performance or inducement of an abortion and for consent to a minor's obtaining an abortion and providing a penalty”

The bill created a “series of crimes providing penalties, based on current law, for persons who cause death, great bodily harm or harm to an unborn child.”

Walker voted against a bill expanding statewide and raising income limits for the state program that helped provide health insurance for low income and unemployed individuals in counties with the highest unemployment. (Assembly Journal)

The bill would have banned the state group insurance board from providing group health insurance coverage for abortion to employees in the Wisconsin retirement system.