Keeping our Promises to Seniors
As governor, Tom Barrett will honor Wisconsin’s bipartisan promise to provide our seniors and people with disabilities the supports and assistance they need to lead healthy, independent lives.
By contrast, after only a few months in office, Scott Walker moved quickly to raise drug prices on seniors and force people who need in-home care on to waiting lists.
Tom Barrett will restore the trust that has been broken with Wisconsin’s older adults, people with disabilities and their families.
Protecting SeniorCare
As governor, Tom Barrett will commit to protecting SeniorCare and promises to work with the federal government to renew its agreement to help pay for the program.
In his budget Scott Walker proposed to effectively end SeniorCare, the popular bipartisan program that has made prescription drugs affordable for hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin seniors since 2002. Walker instead wanted to force seniors to sign up for more expensive, more complicated private drug plans sold through Medicare Part D. If Walker had his way, tens of thousands of seniors would now be paying more for their medications, as insurance companies made $100 million more in revenue selling them higher priced Part D plans. Many seniors likely would have stopped taking their medications altogether because of the added cost. Walker’s Republican allies in the legislature rejected his plan to raise drug prices on seniors because even they recognized how harmful it was.
Tom Barrett will keep Wisconsin’s promise to seniors. As governor, Tom will protect and continue SeniorCare.
Supporting Family Care
Tom Barrett supports the Family Care program which keeps Wisconsin seniors and people with disabilities out of nursing homes by allowing them to receive care at home or in the community. Started in 2000, this bipartisan program currently operates in 57 of 72 counties.
Last July, Scott Walker capped enrollment in Family Care and stopped statewide expansion, even though an independent state audit released a few months earlier found the program to be successful in keeping people out of more expensive nursing homes. Walker’s cap violated federal law, jeopardized $1.7 billion in federal funds and forced seniors and people with disabilities back on to waiting lists for long-term care. Walker lifted the caps nine months later, only after being directed to do so by the federal government.
Tom Barrett respects seniors, people with disabilities and their families. As governor, he will honor Wisconsin’s promises to them. Wisconsin must never return back to a time of waiting lists for long-term care. Tom will support Family Care now and into the future.
