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During La Crosse rally, Citizens Action group continued years-long campaign to get Medicaid money for Wisconsin

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For several years, citizen groups in Wisconsin have been urging the GOP-controlled Wisconsin Legislature to accept billions of dollars in federal Medicaid funding.

They’re still asking for it.

The Citizen Action organization was in La Crosse on Tuesday, calling on government officials in Madison to take funds that most other states use to reduce the costs of medical care.

Robert Kraig, from Citizen Action, told reporters at a rally near Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, that he hopes that Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers can sign a budget Republican lawmakers hand him, that includes accepting federal money.

Wisconsin is one of 10 states that hasn’t taken the federal dollars for Medicaid, costing taxpayers billions.

Republican leaders have turned it down, and Kraig believes the GOP is trying to show it still opposes the Affordable Care Act passed more than a decade ago.

In 2014, La Crosse County supported a referendum asking Wisconsin to accept Medicaid money. Ironically, a GOP local government funding plan that’s being hashed out alongside a budget, would strip local governments from being able to have nonbinding referendums like that.

Kraig also criticized GOP lawmakers for cutting some of Evers’ budget items out of the Republican version of the budget that could provide relief to people throughout Wisconsin.

“Last Tuesday, they stripped 545 items from the governor’s state budget, and one of them was Badgercare expansion, which is Wisconsin taking the Medicaid expansion money under the Affordable Care Act that’s made available by it,” Kraig told reporters at an event near Mayo in La Crosse.

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Walden

    May 10, 2023 at 12:04 am

    Who is Robert Kraig and why should we care what he thinks? He’s a professional grifter.

    The lady in the background was also in the bike shop green energy hit-piece on Rep. Van Orden earlier this week. How do these people find the time to be so angry about each and every government handout they think is due them?

    What, no picture of Pfaff?

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