Thread by @Tamarine608

THREAD: How Wisconsin's lame duck law is hurting our capacity to fight the pandemic.

41 states that have submitted waivers to strengthen the capacity of their Medicaid programs to respond to the pandemic. WI isn't among them. Here's why.

1/n

Gov Evers proposed a waiver, but because of limits on executive power the Republican legislature made between the period Gov Evers was elected and when he took office, the full legislature now needs to explicitly approve the changes. And the full legislature hasn't met.

Changes proposed by Evers include:
* allowing in-person requirements to be waived
* suspending cost-sharing requirements
* temporarily making it easier for providers to get MA reimbursement
* waiving prior authorization requirements
* providing flexibility in MA enrollment

The lame duck law not only requires many Medicaid changes to be explicitly authorized by statute, but it also creates a cumbersome multi-state process after that, including several opportunities for the Joint Finance Committee to review and sign off on waiver changes.

The lame duck law sets up a radically different balance of power from when Gov Walker was in power. Then the legislature gave him the authority to make changes in Medicaid policy _even if those changes conflicted with state statutes_.

The legislature made it more difficult for Wisconsin to respond to emergencies like this one. Now the legislature should recognize their error and repeal the lame duck law.

An excellent piece on this from @KidsForwardWI: kidsforward.org/lame-duck-law-…