Lawsuit filed against state for denying BadgerCare to people on waiting lists

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MADISON - A lawsuit has been filed against the Wisconsin Department of Health accusing it of illegally denying BadgerCare health coverage to people sitting on a waiting list.

The suit was filed yesterday in Dane County Circuit Court, listing as plaintiffs two women from Milwaukee. Attorneys say the two should have been enrolled in the BadgerCare Plus Core Plan. Enrollment was capped last October and a waiting list was started. That list now has 130,000 names on it.

Even though enrollment has dropped by half in the intervening seven-plus months, nobody from the waiting list has been accepted. The state says the enrollment freeze remains in place because Wisconsin has a projected Medicaid deficit of $82 million in state funding right now.

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