Patrick Marley

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday he would plow ahead with plans to expand a health insurance program under Obamacare despite Republican opposition, but gave up on a campaign pledge to dissolve the state's economic development agency.

Republican lawmakers hailed the Democratic governor's decision to abandon — at least for now — his proposal to replace the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. with a traditional state agency focused on stimulating business growth.

While plans for the economic development agency have been set aside, Evers and Republicans remain at odds over expanding health insurance to low-income people using Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act.

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Evers said he saw the plan as essential because it would provide insurance to 76,000 more people while saving the state $280 million over two years because the federal government would pick up more of Wisconsin's health-care costs. Republicans said they believe the plan would drive up costs for those who get private insurance.

Evers and dozens of majority Republicans staked out their positions in a 30-minute meeting behind closed doors. Both sides stressed afterward that the talks were civil and they hoped to find bipartisan agreements despite their differences.

"We will continue to bring people to be active on this issue," Evers said of his plans using Obamacare funds.

"I understand that it’s a non-starter (for Republicans). My goal in answering the question around this was to indicate we’re not going to burn the Capitol down here. We are going to disagree."

Republican leaders said they would not go along with Evers' plan to provide BadgerCare Plus to more people using Obamacare funds.

"Expanding government-run health care is a non-starter," said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau said he also believed Evers' idea would not gain traction. It was a stronger stance than the one he expressed a month ago when Fitzgerald said he wouldn't rule the idea out.

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BadgerCare Plus is a Medicaid program that provides health insurance to low-income people using state and federal money.

Wisconsin offers BadgerCare to people at the federal poverty level. Evers wants to use a provision of the Affordable Care Act to make it available to those making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

If the state were to do that, the federal government would pick up a much larger share of Wisconsin's costs for BadgerCare, freeing up about $280 million over two years, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Evers touted the plan because it would save state taxpayers money while insuring more people.

Evers said he would include the plan in the state budget he will introduce in the coming weeks and use some of the new money to increase payments to doctors and other providers.

"I think if Republican legislators who come from small-town Wisconsin understand the success of those small-town hospitals depends upon access to greater resources, they may change their mind," Evers said. "So we’re going to take this directly to Wisconsin in a respectful way."

Vos said he supports raising the rates paid to doctors and other providers who care for Medicaid patients, but he didn't want to tap into Obamacare funds to do so.

"That just undermines the private-sector market," Vos said.

"The more people that we take from the private-insurance market to put into the public market, the higher the rates are going to go for those people that have private-sector insurance. So granted there might be a short, one-time savings for the state, but that is more than offset by the cost in the private sector for what they have to pay to subsidize those people who are already on BadgerCare."

Economic development agency to stay in place

Backtracking from a campaign pledge, Evers said he would not make any changes to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. for now.

"We’re not doing anything with WEDC in this budget," which runs through June 2021, Evers said.

Republicans welcomed his decision not to pursue his campaign plans.

“I think that’s a huge victory," Fitzgerald told reporters.

Evers said he told Republican lawmakers WEDC's board must focus on making sure the agency closely monitors the deal worth up to $4 billion in state and local facilities that is bringing a manufacturing plant for Foxconn Technology Group to Mount Pleasant.

"It's a big deal, it costs a lot of money and therefore we need to be prepared for continued scrutiny," Evers said. "And the way we do that is to think ahead — what the issues are, where the landmines are."

Vos — who represents the area where Foxconn is building its plant — said he agrees transparency is important.

The economic development corporation was created by GOP Gov. Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers in 2011 to replace the state Department of Commerce. For years, the governor appointed the head of WEDC and the majority of its board.

In December — after Evers defeated Walker but before he was seated — lawmakers and Walker approved legislation limiting the governor's power over WEDC and other matters.

Now, Republicans control WEDC's board and the board picks WEDC's leader. That will change in September when the governor will regain the ability to appoint the leader and the board will be evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

WEDC is led by Mark Hogan, a Walker appointee.

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Tuesday's meeting between Evers and lawmakers was unusual because it included both the Senate and Assembly GOP caucuses. Typically, Assembly Republicans and Senate Republicans caucus separately.

As Evers and Republicans met, Assembly Democrats outlined their priorities, which include constitutional amendments that would prevent controversial measures championed by Vos from happening again.

Rep. Mark Spreitzer, a Democrat from Beloit, said members of his party would introduce a change to the state constitution that would prevent lawmakers from passing a law that keeps their records private.

The amendment is a response to a 2015 effort by Republicans to insert language into the state budget that would have allowed lawmakers to keep nearly every record produced by their offices and through their communication from public view.

The measure was ultimately unsuccessful after widespread public outcry.

Another constitutional amendment would bar lawmakers from making changes to the powers of the governor and other offices between an election and the January inauguration. Such a provision would have prevented lawmakers in December from passing bills to curb the powers of Evers and Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul.

The Democratic measures are unlikely to pass.

Molly Beck of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.