(The Center Square) – A bill to extend postpartum care eligibility under Medicaid to more Wisconsin women passed the Senate with a 30-1 vote and now will head to the Assembly for a second straight year.
The measure did not pass the Assembly last year.
The bill would lead to an estimated $18.5 million increase in Medicaid spending as pregnant women with incomes up to 306% of the federal poverty level are eligible for Medicaid for a full year after birth.
Currently, the extension applies for 60 days after birth.
“It’s the right thing to do from a moral standpoint, from a health-care standpoint and from an ethical standpoint,” said Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green.
Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, said that sometimes bills take more than one year to pass.
The bill is expected to increase Medicaid enrollment by 5,020 members, according to the Senate Bill 23’s fiscal estimate, at an average cost of $307 per month.
Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, wrote that he was concerned the Assembly would again kill the bill.
“Sadly, not only has Speaker (Robin) Vos not committed to giving the bill a vote in the Assembly, the entire Medicaid program as we know it is at risk of severe cuts under Trump,” Larson wrote. “Medicaid is extremely popular – even among Republican voters – but Congress seems hell-bent on cutting it to pay for massive tax cuts for the rich.”
Vos said Tuesday that he hadn’t had the discussion on that bill this session yet but his personal stance is that “I have never supported an expansion of welfare and I can’t imagine that I would ever support one.”
“But we have to talk about it as a caucus and see where everybody else is,” Vos added.
Senate Minority Leader Diane Hesselbein, D-Middleton, said that Wisconsin and Arkansas are the only two states that have not extended postpartum Medicaid eligibility.
“Wisconsin can do better,” Hesselbein said. “Postpartum care can save lives. It improves the lives of health and babies.”
