From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "State suspends BadgerCare Plus Core enrollments"

Madison — The strong response to a new state health plan that insures low-income adults who don’t have children younger than 19 is forcing the state to stop accepting applicants Friday.

The move to suspend enrollment in the BadgerCare Plus Core health plan comes less than four months after the state launched the program.

About 33,000 people are enrolled in the program, and the Department of Health Services is processing tens of thousands of additional applications.

The program has received 500 to 600 applications a day since it began accepting them on June 15.

The BadgerCare Plus Core health plan offers basic coverage to so-called childless adults – those who don’t have children younger than 19 – with incomes of less than 200% of the federal poverty level, or $21,660 a year for one person and $29,140 for a married couple.

Adults with children younger than 19 are eligible for BadgerCare Plus.

The BadgerCare Plus Core plan – which replaced the troubled General Assistance Medical Program in Milwaukee – has a two-year budget of $215 million, with more than half of the money coming from the federal government.

The program’s budget is capped, however, under the waiver granted by the federal government that enabled the state to set up the health plan. For example, the state can’t spend more than $154 million in the program’s first year. Of that, $89 million will come from the federal government.

The health plan was designed to provide basic health care services, such as primary and preventive care, and offered more limited benefits, such as covering only generic drugs, than other state health plans.

The Department of Health Services estimates that it will be able to provide coverage to an estimated 54,000 people within the current budget.

The state initially expected to enroll 40,000 of the estimated 81,000 people eligible for the health plan in the first two years. It instead received more than 37,000 applications in less than two months.

Doyle highlights need

The heavy demand for the program highlights the need for national health care reform, Gov. Jim Doyle said at a news conference Monday.[...]

I have learned from Republicans that capitalism now means guaranteed profit margins for the health insurance cartel. I guess Adam Smith was confused when he wrote about "competition."