Patrick Marley, and Jason Stein

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - 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.

He made the comment hours after telling reporters he would consider seeking a waiver from federal rules on pre-existing conditions if the state can do so under the final version of legislation headed to the U.S. Senate.

The House on Thursday approved a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and allow states to opt out of requirements for insurers on how they cover people with pre-existing conditions.

"That's something we certainly would consider," Walker said to reporters at a morning event promoting tourism. "It depends on the conditions, and again, what's in the House bill could be very different than what's in the Senate bill and what finally comes to the president. So I'm going to wait till I see what's in the final version."

Soon after his comments took off online, Walker spokesman Jack Jablonski said people with pre-existing conditions would continue to have insurance coverage under any approach the administration might take.

In the afternoon, Walker posted a message on Twitter saying, "It is a given that WI will ensure coverage for people with pre-existing conditions." And in the evening, he told the Journal Sentinel he was "not looking to change" policies for those with pre-existing conditions.

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Democrats said they were appalled Walker would even entertain an idea that could result in people with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses paying much more for insurance.

"The answer for the governor of the state of Wisconsin ... should be, 'No, period. No, we're not going to do that,' " said state Rep. Daniel Riemer (D-Milwaukee).

"We ought not deny people coverage or charge them outrageous amounts because they're dealing with diabetes or heart disease."

To opt out of the Affordable Care Act's requirements on pre-existing conditions, states would have to set up high-risk insurance pools to help those people afford coverage. Walker spoke highly of Wisconsin's Health Insurance Risk Sharing Pool, or HIRSP, which the state ran until insurance marketplaces opened under Obamacare in 2014.

"We've been very good at that with HIRSP," Walker said in the morning.

"We had a very effective program before," he said. "A lot of people were very disappointed Wisconsin was not allowed to have that under the Affordable Care Act, under Obamacare."

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Wisconsin's high-risk pool insured about 21,000 people, with critics saying high prices kept tens or hundreds of thousands of others from accessing it. Those applying for the program had to wait six months before they were allowed into it.

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said he would have to review the federal legislation before deciding whether he would support having the state opt out of the pre-existing condition requirements.

"Whatever we would do, I would make sure in Wisconsin that people who have pre-existing conditions have access to health insurance," he said.

But Democrats said they feared how Republicans who run state government would react to the plan.

Asked just after Thursday’s House passage of the GOP health care bill whether he has concerns Wisconsin might seek a waiver, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan of rural Dane County said, “Absolutely. With Scott Walker, who knows?”

Pocan said, “You’re going to have a big boon in employment for insurance industry lobbyists, state by state, trying to get what they can, to take away provisions.”

Also interviewed Thursday, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Kind of La Crosse echoed those comments.

“Given how Governor Walker has approached health care reform overall, rejecting anything that deals with expanded coverage for our most vulnerable citizens, rejecting the Medicaid money that could have been used to expand BadgerCare and cover those that are difficult to cover, I am very worried that the governor and his administration may take advantage of the waiver provisions and allow insurance companies to again discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions," Kind said. "And that’s exactly what the bill will allow him to do."

Craig Gilbert of the Journal Sentinel staff in Washington contributed to this report.

