About 400 protest President Trump policies at the Capitol in Madison
The protest was a part of the 50501 Movement — 50 states, 50 protests, one day — planned in every state.
A Wisconsin program that helps people sign up for health insurance will likely face steep cuts later this year, following an announcement that the federal government would slash its funding.
This month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it would cut funding nationwide for navigator programs, which help enroll people in health coverage, to $10 million, a drop of about 90%.
“A cut of this size will impact our ability to provide all the services and all the information in as timely a way as possible,” said Allison Espeseth, director of Covering Wisconsin, the navigator program for the state.
Federal funding makes up about three-quarters of Covering Wisconsin’s budget, Espeseth said. The cuts would occur starting in its next budget cycle in late August, she said.
Last budget cycle, Covering Wisconsin received a grant of $3.1 million from the federal government for the year, according to federal data. A cut of 90% would leave about $300,000.
In its press release, CMS said the current funding levels don’t “represent a reasonable return on investment” and that reducing the program’s budget will save $360 million over the next four years.
Navigator programs were created under the Affordable Care Act, to provide free, impartial help signing up for health insurance.
The job of navigators goes beyond enrolling patients in health coverage through the marketplaces set up by the Affordable Care Act. They also help people sign up for BadgerCare Plus or other Medicaid programs. They answer people’s questions about eligibility for various insurance programs or subsidies, and provide education and outreach in underserved communities.
“Navigators make it our role to constantly stay on top of all the changes, all the latest process changes, policy changes, program changes, so that when that moment comes, when it can feel overwhelming, you can turn to us,” Espeseth said.
Navigators differ from insurance brokers in key ways. Brokers, who rely on commissions, were far less likely to help consumers sign up for Medicaid, the publicly-funded insurance program for low-income people, or for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as CHIP, according to a 2022 survey by the health policy research group KFF.
Last year, Covering Wisconsin helped enroll more than 9,600 people in marketplace coverage or in Medicaid, Espeseth said. More broadly, the agency assisted around 60,000 people with questions or other issues that year, she said.
President Donald Trump’s administration previously cut funding for navigator programs, in his first term, resulting in lower enrollment in health coverage – and particularly, marketplace coverage – among lower-income adults, according to a study by Rebecca Myerson, an associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Coverage also declined among adults younger than 45 and Hispanic people, she found.
President Joe Biden restored funding for the programs when he took office in 2021.
In this month’s release from CMS, the agency said navigators weren’t enrolling enough people in health plans to justify the current cost, echoing the same reasoning given during Trump’s first term. The release cited enrollment numbers in marketplace coverage, but not in Medicaid and CHIP.
CMS said the move to reduce funding would result in lower user fees and premiums for people enrolled in marketplace coverage, since the navigator program is paid for by user fees.
Espeseth didn’t know exactly how the cuts would affect Covering Wisconsin, but she said the agency would continue to help people enroll in coverage, though in a diminished capacity.
“We will still be here. We will still serve as the navigator agency for Wisconsin,” she said.
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