Obamacare costs could drop 5% in 2019, under plan by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

MADISON - The state will pay less than expected and reduce consumer costs within its Obamacare insurance markets by 5% next year, under a plan by Gov. Scott Walker.

State taxpayers would contribute $34 million — down from an expected $50 million — under the proposal submitted by the Walker administration Wednesday to federal officials.

The move comes two months after Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel sued — with Walker's blessing — to seek to strike down the federal Affordable Care Act. The GOP governor said Wednesday that there's no contradiction between him seeking to eliminate Obamacare in the long run and making it work better in the short run.

"I think there’s real problems not only in Wisconsin but nationwide," Walker said of the ACA. "But just to make a point I’m not going to let my people on the individual (insurance) market have to suffer."

Walker's plan would use state and federal money to limit losses for insurers who are covering sick patients, allowing health plans to keep their premiums lower than otherwise possible. The governor said it should promote more competition among insurers in less populated parts of Wisconsin by keeping their health plans in the marketplace.

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But Democratic candidates in the 2018 governor's race said Walker's efforts to reassure insurers in Obamacare are being undercut by the lawsuit to strike down the law.

"The administration has got to figure out what they're all about," said Rep. Dana Wachs (D-Eau Claire). "What people in Wisconsin want is consistency. They need health care."

If approved by President Donald Trump's administration, Walker's proposal would lower monthly premiums in the state's Obamacare marketplaces to a projected $721 per consumer per month next year, a little more than 5% less than the $762 per month being charged this year, according to a private analysis done on behalf of the state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.

The plan — approved by Walker and lawmakers in February — is targeted at consumers who buy individual health insurance through the Affordable Care Act but who make too much money to qualify for federal subsidies to lower their premiums.

The proposal had been expected to cost $150 million for federal taxpayers and $50 million for the state. But the federal government is now expected to pick up $166 million of the cost, lowering the bite on Wisconsin taxpayers.

Premiums within the Obamacare premiums rose by 44% in 2018 in Wisconsin and the number of counties with just one insurer providing options for consumers rose from one to 11.

Under Walker's proposal the number of consumers in the exchanges would dip only slightly in 2019 to 184,700.

Schimel, the attorney general, filed the Obamacare lawsuit in February in federal court in Texas along with Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of that state.

In a 2012 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate in Obamacare by saying Congress had the authority to impose a tax on consumers who don't purchase health insurance. Last year, Congress and Trump eliminated the tax.

Schimel's lawsuit argues that because the tax has been dropped, the individual mandate to buy health insurance and, with it, the entire law are no longer constitutional.