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December 10, 2018 The Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health (WAWH) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’) Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds proposed rule. WAWH is a state-based organization that advocates for public policies to promote the health, economic security, and safety of Wisconsin women and girls. We strongly oppose the proposed rule because it would erect insurmountable barriers to the ability of immigrants and citizens to access and use Medicaid and other public benefit programs for which they are lawfully eligible. The proposed rule would drastically change the definition of what it means to be a “public charge” by considering immigrants’ use of public benefits beyond those used for subsistence. It would improperly penalize immigrants who use public benefits to augment their standard of living and ultimately achieve self-sufficiency. The proposed rule would also create a widespread chilling effect whereby both immigrants and citizens, especially women and citizen children, disenroll from or forego enrollment in public benefits. The resulting effects would needlessly harm individuals’ and families’ health and well-being, the greater public health, the U.S. economy, and the public budget. Further, the proposed rule would undo decades of policy work that improved benefits administration and eligibility processes for such programs. Streamlined enrollment and access to public benefits such as Medicaid have had a positive impact on public health. In particular, Medicaid and health related public benefits programs improve both individual quality of life and population health of the U.S. No person should have to question whether accessing the health care they need will adversely impact their immigration status or ability to remain in the U.S. Given the proposed rule’s significant detrimental effects, its contravention of established law and practice, and its lack of supporting evidence, DHS should immediately withdraw its proposed rule. View our full comments here: 
The contents of the bills were so extensive and the passage happened so quickly that we still don't have a full analysis of the consequences of the legislation. But we do know that these bills will have significant ramifications for many policies that are important to women’s health. For example the bills as passed will significantly limit the extent to which Governor-Elect Evers will have discretion over Wisconsin’s Medicaid program and prevents Attorney General-Elect Kaul from withdrawing Wisconsin from a federal lawsuit that is trying to strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This damaging and unprecedented move by the GOP will prevent state agencies from taking action to effectively implement and meet the full promise of the ACA in Wisconsin.
In total, three separate pieces of legislation were passed. Two pieces of legislation focused on limiting the powers of Governor-Elect Evers and Attorney General-Elect Kaul and reducing the time period for early voting. Both bills passed the Senate and Assembly on largely party line votes, with the exceptions of Republican Senator Rob Cowles and Republican Representative Todd Novak, who joined Democrats in opposing both measures. We encourage you to use the links to your own legislators to find their phone numbers and to call them to express your gratitude or outrage over their vote depending on how they weighed in. Link here if you need help finding out who represents you. You can always use the State Legislative Hotline number too: 1-800-362-9472
Coverage of the lame-duck session:
GOP lawmakers vote in wee hours to pass lame-duck bill curtailing powers of governor, attorney general In Lame-Duck Coup, Wisconsin GOP Strips Democrats of Power and Makes It Harder to Vote Governor-Elect Tony Evers hasn’t even been inaugurated, and Republicans are already trying to weaken his ability to govern and override the results of November’s election. The lame-duck Session involves five sweeping pieces of legislation that propose to strip away constitutional powers from the Governor and Attorney General, limit early voting, and change a spring election date to favor a conservative State Supreme Court candidate. The contents of the bills are so extensive that it is impossible to provide a full analysis of them in this post. However, if passed, these bills will have significant ramifications for many policies that are important to women’s health, including whether Governor-Elect Evers will have discretion over Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, whether Attorney General-Elect Kaul will be allowed to withdraw Wisconsin from a federal lawsuit that is trying to strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and remove discretion from state agencies that would allow them to more effectively implement the ACA. To learn more about these proposals, see the following articles:
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Sara Finger, Executive Director Archives
May 2022
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