Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has signed a plan he says will lower health insurance premium rates in the individual market.

Walker visited Green Bay Sunday to announce the state received a federal waiver from the Trump administration for a $200 million reinsurance program.

"We made the case to the legislature, thankfully they responded and we were able to sign that into law at the end of February. We then submitted that to the federal government because it requires a state innovation waiver," Walker says.

Gov. Walker believes the Health Care Stability Plan will stabilize the market and attract more insurance providers. He anticipates the plan lowering premiums by 3.5 percent on average.

"This will be a 11 percent reduction in 2019 where premiums would have gone, had we done nothing," Walker says. "It'll be an outright, about three-and-a-half percent minimum average reduction from where premiums are today."

Democrats have called the governor's announcement an election year stunt. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin cited the governor's opposition to expanding the BadgerCare program.

"If Scott Walker would have focused on the needs of Wisconsin families instead of his own personal political ambitions, tens of thousands more would have health care and tax payers would have an extra $1 billion. That’s if Walker would have expanded BadgerCare," said TJ Helmstetter, Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Helmstetter says the reinsurance plan will have no impact on people who are not in the market.

"This reinsurance program does nothing to help everyone else who is not participating in the health exchanges who will likely see double digit premium increases due to the Republican sabotage and instability in the market that they've created," Helmstetter said.

The Health Care Stability Plan is expected to take effect in January 2019. It will last five years.