State officials have signed up more than twice as many new enrollees for BadgerCare Plus in the first month of the program as they had hoped to get in the first 14 months, according to the Department of Health and Family Services. Since the new program began February 1, 2008, more than 64,000 people have signed up. The state was shooting to get 26,000 new enrollees through the middle of next year.
Of those 64,000 new enrollees, about 42,000 were added to the rolls almost immediately when the changes for qualification were implemented; many had already applied in anticipation of the changes. That jump helped push the number of people in Wisconsin on Medicaid to 574,000, accounting for about 1-in-10 state residents.
Gov. Doyle included BadgerCare Plus in the 2007-09 budget as part of his plan to help reduce the state's uninsured population, particularly among children. It allows all kids and more parents, caretaker relatives and pregnant women to enroll.
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