Assembly Leadership Sides With Big Oil Over Wisconsin Women & Families
Budget delay tactics put women’s health and access to care at risk Madison, WI – Assembly Republican leaders are risking the health of women and families by blocking a new state budget. Although Wisconsin stands to lose millions of federal dollars which fund basic health care services for the poor, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch and his cohorts refuse to pass a responsible compromise budget. Without a budget, thousands of Wisconsin women will lose access to needed health care services, including PAP smears, cancer screening, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and family planning services. “Assembly Republican leaders are siding with Big Oil over the health of women,” said Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, a reproductive health advocacy group. “They are willing to deprive thousands of low-income women of basic health care – all to help big oil companies, posting record profits, avoid paying their fair share for Wisconsin’s services. ” If the legislature fails to pass a new budget by October 15th, family planning providers will be hit with a 28 percent cut in reimbursements – meaning they will be forced to drastically reduce services to patients. (According to the Department of Health and Family Services, available here: http://thewheelerreport.com/releases/Sept07/sept10/0910dhfsspreadsheet.pdf) In addition, failure to pass a budget will mean that important health programs like the Medicaid Family Planning Waiver will not receive the funds needed to expand critical preventative services to low income men and women. While the Senate’s budget included important provisions to allow the Waiver program to serve more low-income patients, the Assembly’s budget slashed the program, eliminating eligibility for thousands of young women. Further budget delays could jeopardize the millions of federal dollars the state receives under the program, which has saved over $90 million dollars since 2004. "The people of Wisconsin will not tolerate representatives who play politics with health care funding," said Roys. "The legislature’s job is to pass a budget to fund basic services, not stonewall the process to protect the windfall profits of Big Oil. If the Assembly Republican leaders are not willing to do their jobs, Wisconsin voters will replace them with people who will."
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