Gov. Scott Walker is the first Republican presidential candidate to outline a health insurance program to replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Walker would eliminate the taxes required to finance Obamacare and then use refundable income tax credits to help people obtain health insurance.
The governor’s plan would base the tax credits on the age of people, rather than their financial situation. Eliminating the so-called “means testing” approach of Obamacare would be a major shift in government policy.
Experts explain that move would pinch the working poor, probably encouraging them to get less comprehensive health insurance. Walker repeatedly has said he favors programs under which the poor have a “little skin in the game,” arguing that reduces overall spending.
Walker would provide a tax break to middle- and upper-income people who don’t get health insurance through their employers. Perhaps more important, at least politically, would be ending the additional personal income tax bracket in which the wealthiest one percent pay to help finance Obamacare.
Financing the new income tax credits would come from overhauling Medicaid, according to the plan. Walker would send block grants to the 50 states, allowing them to fashion how to care for the very poor and the frail elderly who have outlived their resources.
That might solve any federal budget problems by kicking the financial can down the road to the 50 legislatures. It could be a challenge for states like Wisconsin, which have older-than-average populations.
The devil is always in the details in new government programs. Walker will need to provide those details and the problems a new program might create. He’ll be successful if the media starts calling it “Walkercare.”
-Matt Pommer is the “dean” of Capitol correspondents in Madison. His column is published with permission from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
