ALERT!!! Health care town hall TOMORROW! (Tuesday)

We just learned that the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance is holding FEDERAL HEALTH CARE TOWN HALL MEETINGS around the state and the La Crosse meeting is TOMORROW (Tuesday, October 25) from 3:30 to 5 (perfectly convenient for working people) at the La Crosse Public Library (800 Main Street). 

This is being billed as, "... a forum for citizens to gather information about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 2017 open enrollment and "auto re-enrollment. Wisconsin is anticipating 37,160 residents to lose individual health insurance coverage in 2017 due to insurers exiting the exchange, also known as the Federally Facilitated Market Place (FFM), or scaling back on previously serviced counties. These consumers will unfortunately endure the harms of 'auto re-enrollment' unless they understand their options moving forward. To alleviate confusion, we will be traveling the state to provide information on the 2017 open enrollment and strongly encourage consumers who will be affected by 'auto re-enrollment' to opt-out and shop for health care coverage either on or off the exchange."

Keep in mind that the Walker administration is an absolute foe of Affordable Care Act and they have done whatever they can to ensure it fails. Walker's first Health and Human Services secretary was the Heritage Foundation's Dennis Smith whose specialty was working to end Medicaid. You may have seen current tv ads for Dan Kapanke touting his support for BadgerCare and Jenn Shilling's vote against it. Shilling in fact backed expanding Medicaid coverage, something the Walker administration refused to do, putting thousands of people in an "uncovered" hole. Just last year, Walker was talking about pushing some seniors out of Wisconsin's SeniorCare program. OneWisconsin has a great compilation of Scott Walker's greatist anti-health care hits at http://onewisconsinnow.org/scottwalker/healthcare/

We need people to attend this event and push back against the anti-ACA narrative its sure to promote. Without the Affordable Care Act, thousands would not be able to afford insurance, premiums would have risen even faster, pre-existing conditions would determine coverage and costs. If you can attend, please do. Go educated and ready to speak.