Frederica Freyberg:
But first, today was the last day to apply for the BadgerCare Plus core plan program. Anyone who applies now will be placed on a waiting list. The state estimated the program could cover about 54,000. 60,000 plus people have applied prior to this week. By mid-week 6,500 new applications were submitted as calls and emails flooded into the office handling the registration. The calls for last-minute enrollment were nonstop. Jim Doyle joins us now. Thank you for doing so.

Jim Doyle:
Glad to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:
Why did you need to stop enrollment in the program?

Jim Doyle:
We have approval from the federal government. It's one of the most unique programs in the country. I think there are only two other states that have it. To be able to provide health insurance for people, many of whom are working, but who earn wages that are only 200 percent of the federal poverty level and who don't have minor children. If these people had minor children, they would be eligible for BadgerCare, but without it they aren't. We have a very, very innovative program. Under the agreement with the federal government to get the approval, it has to be so-called budget-neutral, which means the federal government requires that it be kept within the money that we would otherwise be spending, federal Medicaid money. We knew that this day would come. We, it came a lot faster than we thought. We can cap it at about 54,000, 55,000 people in order to be budget-neutral. In the first three months, 70,000 people signed up. And to me there is no greater example in the country today of what the need, the crying need is, for people in Wisconsin or in other states to get health insurance.

Frederica Freyberg:
Were you surprised by how steep the interest was in this program?

Jim Doyle:
Well, I — and when I look back at it, I mean, I don't think we were. We certainly thought it was going to take longer to reach the level, but given what happened in the economy all across the country, I mean, a lot of these people are people who have -- who, you know, eight months ago were employed and now find themselves in very difficult circumstances. I had a couple with me the other day. Both of them were professionals. One of them ironically worked for a health insurance company. Both of them had been laid off. They had unemployment benefits, but those benefits couldn't come anywhere near to paying the cobra that they would have needed to pay in order to maintain. The man, the husband, had Type II diabetes, just diagnosed. Now, if he didn't get health insurance, they either would have gone completely bankrupt or his condition would have worsened. By getting health insurance through Wisconsin, he's able to see a doctor, get the medications he needs and his condition can be managed very well.

Frederica Freyberg:
What happens to people who missed this noon deadline today to sign up or apply? 

Jim Doyle:
Well, they can continue to apply and there will be a waiting list. And as — but the problem, as we've explained, is we're going to have many more people on this program and so we're going to have to bring it down. As people leave the program, and they will. As people go back to work and other things, we're just going to have to keep those positions open. But what I did is I have directed our department to do something again that will be incredibly innovative in this country, but it's to provide some basic care for those, or coverage for those 20,000, that they will have to pay for, but it will be very minimal. It will be able to go to the doctor. It will be able to visit the urgent center, to be able to get the medications. And the people will have to pay for it, but we think we can get that premium in the $50 to $100 a month range. Again, very, very basic care, but that covers about 95 percent of the health needs of people. If you can get to the doctor a couple of times a year, if you have emergency hospitalizations, if you can get to urgent care and get the prescription drugs you need, that covers most — if you think of your own sort of health care needs, that covers most of the basic needs of people.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do you know when that basic coverage might be available?

Jim Doyle:
I have directed the department to report back in 45 days. It will be require the legislature to act, so I've asked them to bring the plan back to me and to the state legislature. Again, this is not one that will cost the state money. People will have to pay for it. But we can piggyback on the current program we have, get better and lower rates for people, and, again, have a very, very, basic plan, but have something for people.

Frederica Freyberg:
No, whereas you call this level of interest in BadgerCare Plus a clear demonstration of the need for national health care reform, republican Paul Ryan says this health care plan overhaul being pushed through Congress would make matters worse and this week responding to the cutting off of the enrollment, he said, “I share the sentiments of my colleagues at the state and federal level, that today's troubling news reminds us of the urgent need for real health care reform. Yet I could not disagree more with their proposed prescription,” saying, “the health care overhaul being pushed through Congress would make matters worse, imposing added financial burdens on states already facing severe budget shortfalls.” He says that “HR 3200 demands that Madison shoulder more of Washington’s mandates. It would further strip the state of the flexibility that made BadgerCare Plus possible in the first place.” What about these mandates from Washington and how it would cost states more?

Jim Doyle:
Well, the proposal as it has basically been proposed, given Wisconsin, where we are at, would cost Wisconsin more, but the federal government as part of this bill is suggesting how it would be — would pick up those added costs. But we would get something for that, which is health insurance for people in our state. I mean, what is really troubling about Congressman Ryan's and the republicans' position is he acknowledges in the first part of that statement how important this is and yet has nothing — they have proposed nothing that would actually help us get there. I think there is a lot of room, using the Wisconsin experience, that Congress could act. Let me just say, Wisconsin has one of the highest levels of coverage of people who have health insurance, one, two or three in the United States in terms of coverage. We have just been ranked as the state that has the highest quality of health care in the United States. And we are repeatedly recognized as one that has one of the most cost-effective healthcare systems. I would think we could really look at Wisconsin, where you have wide coverage, high quality, and while the costs are very high, it shows you what's going on in the other states, our costs are actually relative to other states much more lower and more effective.

Frederica Freyberg:
What would Wisconsin gain out of national health care reform because we've already got it pretty good? 

Jim Doyle:
Here's what Wisconsin would gain and here's what the United States would gain. The people that are really hurt right now in this system are people who are slightly ahead of what the income requirements are for a plan like BadgerCare, but who do not earn enough money to be able to go into the marketplace. I mean, if you're a family of four, it's probably costing you $1500 to $2,000 a month. And if your family income is $50,000, $60,000, $70,000 a year, that's really beyond your reach. This is the group of people, many of them employed in small businesses, that really are not addressed. The plan that Congress is talking about, that the president has been talking about, by which you set up an exchange and you bring to bear market forces to allow people to go into an insurance exchange that is subsidized based on people's income, so it isn't just a cutoff. You don't just come to a point and say, I'm sorry, you now make a dollar too much, but a way that you can subsidize people up the income level. That can really allow us to be — we're one of the states that could actually go from 93 percent, to 100 percent coverage.

Frederica Freyberg:
What assurance could we get that the federal government would pay the full cost of expanding the program?

Jim Doyle:
That's what the bill says. The best assurance you get is what the law says. I believe that members of Congress are very in tune to this. Now, there is one aspect of this bill, I will say, that could in Wisconsin really get, as a number of other states, we get harmed because we have been a good state. The bill says that as you go up to 133 percent of the poverty level to provide insurance, that the federal government will pick up 100 percent of that as you go to it. Well, there are about 12 states in the country, including Wisconsin, that are already well over...

Frederica Freyberg:
Up to 200 percent.

Jim Doyle:
Up to 200 percent. Where many states have only 40 percent, if you can imagine. I believe if they're going to fund up to 133 percent for those states that haven't done the job, they have to do it for the states like Wisconsin that have already gone to that level.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. We'll leave it there. Gov. Jim Doyle, thanks very much.

Jim Doyle:
Thank you.