Wisconsin Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is accusing Democratic Gov. Tony Evers of "empty rhetoric" as the governor pushes for Medicaid expansion.
Vos reacted Thursday to Evers saying he will "fight like hell" to get Medicaid expansion approved in the budget. Republicans plan to vote to kill his proposal next week.
Vos said at a news conference that Evers isn't telling the whole story of what expansion would mean. Vos says it will shift more costs to taxpayers as roughly half of the 82,000 people expected to be covered would give up heavily subsidized private insurance to get on the partially funded state BadgerCare plan.
Evers says the public is on his side and called on them to put pressure on Republicans, who control the Legislature.
Evers and Democrats vowed at a news conference Thursday to save the proposal and called on voters to pressure Republicans to compromise. They cited public opinion polls that showed a majority of support for Medicaid expansion.
Evers says, "We're not giving up."
The Republican co-chairs of the Legislature's budget committee on Wednesday said they will remove his Medicaid expansion plan and a host of other Evers priorities in a single vote next week. They've long opposed expanding Medicaid, even as some Republican lawmakers say they're open to compromise.
