MADISON - Democratic candidates for governor are coalescing around a plan to let anyone — regardless of income — buy into a state health program currently reserved for the most needy.

As Republicans like Gov. Scott Walker have pushed Congress for the repeal of the federal Affordable Care Act, Democrats in Wisconsin have reacted by seeking a greater health care role for government that's similar to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' Medicare for all bill.

A growing number of state Democrats, including most of the declared candidates for governor, now back allowing anyone to buy coverage through the state's BadgerCare program. It's part of a national trend. 

"I'm encouraged by the momentum that the concept is garnering," said Rep. Eric Genrich (D-Green Bay), a lead sponsor of the legislation. 

A spokesman for Walker, who will face the winner of the Democratic primary, had no comment on the proposal. But Walker has battled with Democrats over other BadgerCare expansions for nearly seven years, and this latest proposal seems certain to widen divisions over one of the state's largest programs.

A Medicaid health program for state residents, BadgerCare receives about 40% of its funding from state taxpayers and the rest from federal taxpayers. The program is limited to people making less than the federal poverty limit, which is $20,420 for a family of three. 

Under the proposal, the state would ask the federal government for permission to allow people making more than that to buy the coverage by paying the state's cost. That currently amounts to about $7,200 a year for an adult and $3,000 for a child, according to the group Citizen Action of Wisconsin, which backs the concept.

The proposal would also allow people who qualify for federal subsidies through the Obamacare health care exchanges to use those subsidies to buy into BadgerCare. Genrich said he first saw the idea when it was proposed by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, and since then it nearly passed in Nevada

Supporters say this approach would create a "public option" to compete with private insurers, which have been pulling out of the Affordable Care Act marketplaces and increasing their prices.

Opponents say it expands a government program that's unsustainable and doesn't pay doctors and hospitals the full cost of the care they provide. That low reimbursement rate could make expanding the program difficult. 

Genrich's measure, Assembly Bill 449, has the backing of the two Democratic candidates for governor in the Legislature, Rep. Dana Wachs (D-Eau Claire) and Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma). 

"I think it's a good idea," Wachs said. "If the federal government isn't going to work with the Affordable Care Act, we're going to start looking at how to protect it ourselves."

State schools superintendent Tony Evers, Madison activist Mike McCabe and Milwaukee attorney Matt Flynn have also backed the concept. 

"Tony would support allowing Wisconsinites to buy into BadgerCare because it would provide more Wisconsinites with access to affordable health care," Evers campaign manager Nathan Henry said. 

Milwaukee businessman Andy Gronik is the only prominent announced Democrat who hasn't explicitly backed the idea, saying in a statement that his priority is that "everyone in Wisconsin should have access to affordable health care."

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One of the key decisions of Walker's tenure as governor has been to decline to take additional federal Affordable Care Act money to do a full expansion of BadgerCare. 

The governor has instead done a more limited expansion of the program with less federal taxpayer money. As a result, state taxpayers had to spend $679 million more as of last summer than they would have under a full expansion of Medicaid, according to the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office. 

Under Walker, "Wisconsin now covers everyone living in poverty without the costly federal mandates of Obamacare or tax hikes on Wisconsin families — while still ranking top 10 in the nation for quality of health care," state GOP spokesman Alec Zimmerman said. 

Walker's main argument for not taking the extra federal money has been that it's not sustainable within the federal budget and that Congress will eventually have to repeal it.

So far, however, the GOP-led Congress and President Donald Trump have been unsuccessful in their efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In addition, not all of the repeal bills that have been put forward would have immediately done away with this funding.  

But even if a Democrat is elected governor in 2018, expansions to Medicaid won't come easily. One or both houses of the Legislature will likely still be controlled by Republicans, who share Walker's opposition to a Medicaid expansion and won't be likely to reverse their earlier votes against expansions.

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