“There’s lots of people out there that work in the health care industry that frankly voted for Gov. Walker that I think can help change that dialogue,” Evers said.

Evers also said he will take the plan to voters throughout the state, citing the Fox Valley in particular.

“We’ll be taking this budget out to the people of the state of Wisconsin, and in Republican areas, we’ll be talking about this,” Evers said.

Republicans in Wisconsin have maintained the state, which shares the cost of Medicaid with the federal government, should not incur the long-term liability of expanding publicly funded health coverage.

But federal funding the state would get under the Obamacare law to expand Medicaid will loom large in the debate over it in 2019. Evers is expected to factor more than $200 million in federal money for Medicaid expansion into his budget, said Jon Peacock, research director for Kids Forward, said earlier this month.