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Friday, Jul. 11, 2025

Does Donald Trump’s big bill provide an additional $1 billion annually for Wisconsin’s Medicaid program?

Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch

no

Wisconsin will receive an estimated $1 billion more annually in federal funds for Medicaid because the state budget includes a change that pre-empts a provision in President Donald Trump’s big bill.

Trump’s bill would have prevented Wisconsin from raising its hospital tax.

But days before Trump signed it, the Republican-led Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers approved a 2025-27 state budget that raises Wisconsin’s hospital tax from 1.8% to 6%.

The increase will raise some $1 billion more annually in federal matching funds that the state can use to pay hospitals for care they provide Medicaid patients.

Wisconsin’s largest Medicaid program is BadgerCare Plus, which provides health insurance to about 1 million low-income people age 64 and under.

Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin, claimed that Trump’s bill “secured” the $1 billion.

The bill cuts roughly $1 trillion over 10 years from Medicaid, which costs nearly $900 billion annually.

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