Wisconsin’s Medicaid director says new work requirements in the federal budget bill House Republicans passed last month could extend beyond those who use the Medicaid or FoodShare programs.
In Wisconsin, almost 1.3 million children and adults are enrolled in Medicaid, and more than 700,000 receive FoodShare. The new legislation expands work requirements for both programs.
As it relates to Medicaid, the new rules would affect about 194,000 Wisconsin adults between the ages of 19 and 64 who do not have dependent children at home and have an income at or below 100 percent the federal poverty level.
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“The bill creates new work requirements for this population,” Wisconsin Medicaid Director Bill Hanna told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “We estimate that about 63,000 of those currently enrolled are not meeting those requirements today.”
Under those requirements, individuals would need to meet 80 hours of qualifying activities — like working, volunteering or education — per month. The bill would also require individuals to renew their eligibility with documentation every six months, versus the current 12-month requirement.
Work requirements already exist for adults aged 19 to 54 without dependent children under Wisconsin’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called FoodShare. But those would expand under the bill to include people up to age 65 and adults who have children over the age of 6.
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“We anticipate that an additional 88,000 people in Wisconsin will now need to submit additional paperwork to the state in order to prove that they are meeting those work requirements,” Hanna said.
Hanna told “Wisconsin Today” about the potential effects of the bill on Medicaid and FoodShare in Wisconsin.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Rob Ferrett: Could this legislation potentially cause people to be kicked off of Medicaid who shouldn’t be?
Bill Hanna: Yeah, I think there’s a lot of unintended consequences. … Between the ages of 19 and 54, approximately 70 percent of those folks are working, when you look at national data. It’s when you get into that older range, between 55 and 64, that that number goes down. I think what you’ll see is a bigger impact on that older population, primarily women.
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I think the other point is this will certainly increase the uninsured rate in Wisconsin. And what we know is that individuals, if they lose their Medicaid, it doesn’t mean they don’t need health care. It just means they don’t have a way to pay for it now, which will increase uncompensated care for hospitals, doctors and other health care providers.
Income is important to hospitals, especially as we’ve seen closures in western Wisconsin, and uncompensated care really impacts all of us. We’re all health care consumers, and when hospitals don’t have enough revenue to stay open, they have to pass those costs on to other health care consumers. So while this may appear to just be impacting those 63,000 individuals that we’re talking about, this really has an impact across the whole health care economy.
RF: When I talked to Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, he said states have expanded Medicaid to cover those it’s not meant for — that they’re abusing the system. What do you think of that?
BH: States are certainly not gaming the system. Everything that states are doing is currently allowable under federal law, and in Wisconsin, we’re really in a different boat than much of the country. Wisconsin has done its own partial expansion, so we’re not getting the 90-10 match like many states are. For our expansion population, the state is putting up 40 percent of that cost. We are also incredibly judicious with how we use provider taxes, always with an end goal of making sure hospitals stay open and stay viable and continue to serve Medicaid individuals.
On qualified individuals or ineligible folks: That’s just not true. Wisconsin and all states go through a review by the federal government every three years determining whether states are making errors or allowing folks on the program that shouldn’t be on the program. Wisconsin’s most recent review was in 2022, and we had a 99.5 percent accuracy rate. And when you talk about what’s inaccurate, it’s really about dotting i’s and crossing t’s, not that folks are ineligible. So the facts aren’t there. We run a really good program in Wisconsin, and these cuts will hurt not only the individuals that we talked about, but again, our health care economy.
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RF: What does this mean for the workload at the state with that additional documentation, both for SNAP and for Medicaid?
BH: It’s additional workload. The bill also shifts other costs from the federal government to states. Today, FoodShare is matched 50-50 in terms of how we administer the program. The bill changes that to where the states now need to pay 75 percent of the cost to run the FoodShare program. Also, right now, the SNAP benefits that go out to individuals are paid 100 percent by the federal government. The bill adds, for the first time, a matching requirement for states at least 5 percent, which is $69 million per year in Wisconsin. And it goes up to as high as 25 percent depending on a state’s error rate.
So between the workload and system changes we have to make in order to collect all the documentation, the cost shifting and administrative costs and the new matching requirement for FoodShare benefits, we estimate it’ll cost Wisconsin about $119 million [extra] in the first year alone, just to maintain the program that we have today.
Sprinkles early Wednesday ahead of a big warmup to end the week.
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REALLY AWESOME TO SEE HOW FAR HOPEFULLY THIS CAN TAKE US TO MORE EXPLORATION. YES, YES, 100%. AND THIS MORNING, OTHERWISE NOT PERFECT. IT’S NOT TOO BAD. WE’RE WAKING UP TO A FEW SHOWERS ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN, BUT IF YOU DIDN’T LIKE THE WEATHER YESTERDAY, WE ARE GOING TO BE DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT BY THIS AFTERNOON. HIGH TEMPERATURES YESTERDAY TOPPED OUT CLOSE TO ABOUT 34 DEGREES. THAT’S WHERE WE’RE SITTING FOR A LOT OF SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN RIGHT NOW. WE’RE GOING TO WARM UP INTO THE 60S THIS AFTERNOON. YES, SOME OF US ARE WAKING UP TO MAYBE A FEW SNOWFLAKES OUT THERE. MOST OF US ARE WAKING UP JUST TO RAIN SHOWERS TO KICK OFF THE DAY TODAY, SOME DRIER CONDITIONS SOUTH OF I 94 IN OUR VIEWING AREA RIGHT NOW. BUT YOU CAN SEE THE ACTIVITY THAT’S STRETCHING BACK WEST OF MADISON. JUST A FEW LIGHT SHOWERS AND SPRINKLES ARE LOOKING POSSIBLE THROUGH ABOUT 10:00. THERE’S RAIN ALL THE WAY BACK CLOSE TO WATERLOO RIGHT NOW, SO IT’S NOT GOING TO STICK AROUND THE ENTIRE TIME. WE’LL HAVE DRY TIME BETWEEN NOW AND 10:00, BUT ON AND OFF SHOWERS ARE STILL POSSIBLE. MILWAUKEE HAS HAD SOME SHOWERS THIS MORNING. YOU CAN SEE THE RAINDROPS ON THE CAMERA LENS THERE IN OCONOMOWOC, AS WELL AS BROOKFIELD. DELAVAN SO FAR HAS STAYED PRETTY DRY AND RIGHT NOW IT LOOKS LIKE RAIN IS A LITTLE MORE LIKELY. CLOSER TO AND NORTH OF I-94. RAIN IN MILWAUKEE RIGHT NOW. THOSE CHANCES STICK AROUND INTO THE MORNING. BUT THE BIG STORY TODAY IT IS THE WARM UP. IT IS GOING TO BE NICE LATER THIS AFTERNOON. SHOWER CHANCES JUST ABOUT 9 OR 10:00. THEN THE REST OF YOUR WEDNESDAY IS GOING TO BE DRY OVERNIGHT TONIGHT. ANOTHER CHANCE FOR SOME RAIN THAT MOVES OUT BY THURSDAY. BUT THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY, ANOTHER RAIN CHANCE IS ON THE WAY. MOST OF OUR DAYLIGHT HOURS ARE LOOKING DRY 56 DEGREES ON SATURDAY, DRY FOR SATURDAY. THEN WE’RE TRACKING. WILL TRACK MORE RAIN CHANCES SUNDAY, MONDAY AND TUESDAY AND A BIG COOLDOWN AS WE HEAD INTO TUESDAY. BY WEDNESDAY OF NEXT WEEK, TEMPERATURES COULD BE ON THE CHILLY SIDE. ONCE AGAIN. HERE’S FUTURE CAST. NOTICE IT’S MAINLY RAIN THAT WE’RE SEEING, BUT I CAN’T RULE OUT A FEW SNOWFLAKES HERE. OVER THE NEXT HOUR OR SO. THEN JUST SOME SHOWERS FOR THE EARLY PART OF THE DAY. AND THEN SUNSHINE IS BACK. IT WILL BE WINDY, SOME GUSTS AS HIGH AS 35MPH, BUT THAT’S BRINGING IN TEMPERATURES IN THE 60S LATER TODAY. AND THEN A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH AND RAIN CHANCES BUILD BACK IN REALLY FROM ABOUT 10:00 TONIGHT THROUGH ABOUT THREE, 4:00 IN THE MORNING. AND MOST OF YOUR THURSDAY IS DRY AND SUNNY. THEN NOTICE LATE THURSDAY EVENING INTO EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. THAT’S WHEN WE’LL TRACK OUR NEXT CHANCE FOR SOME RAIN. SO THE BOTTOM LINE, THE BIG CHANGE FROM WHAT WE SAW THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS IS THE TEMPERATURES WILL BE BACK IN THE 50S AND THE 60S TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY, AND REALLY THROUGH MOST OF THE SEVEN DAY FORECAST, WE HAVE RAIN CHANCES EVERY SINGLE DAY, BUT MOST OF THAT RAIN IS FALLING DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS, AND WE COULD HAVE A FEW SHOWERS LINGERING OR BUILDING IN IN THE EVENING OR LINGERING INTO THE MORNING. BUT FOR THE MOST PART, DAYLIGHT HOURS. AS WE HEAD THROUGH THE REST OF THE WORKWEEK IS GOING TO BE DRY, BUT WE DO HAVE SOME SHOWERS OUT THERE TO KICK OFF THE DAY. TODAY THERE COULD BE SOME WET ROADS FOR YOUR MORNING COMMUTE. RAIN CHANCES RETURN LATE THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT TONIGHT. SOME SHOWER CHANCES LATE TOMORROW INTO THURSDAY, BUT AGAIN MAINLY OVERNIGHT RAIN CHANCES. SO THOSE 50S AND 60S WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO GET OUTSIDE AND ENJOY 56 DEGREES ON SATURDAY. RIGHT NOW, SUNDAY 70. THAT’S FANTASTIC. AND IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE A WASHOUT, BUT WE ARE TRACKING STORM CHANCES SUNDAY AND MONDAY. OH MY GOODNESS. HOPEFULLY WE’RE TURNING A CORNER, BUT IT IS STILL SO EARLY. FINGERS CROSSED. IT’S WILD TO THINK THAT WE PROBABLY HAVE SOME SNOWFLAKES AROUND RIGHT NOW AND WE’
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Impact Day: Wintry mix to 60s in SE Wisconsin
Sprinkles early Wednesday ahead of a big warmup to end the week.
Updated: 5:46 AM CDT Apr 8, 2026
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Early rain showers Wednesday morning, with parts of the area seeing a wintry mix as temperatures start near freezing. Showers move out later this morning. Skies will gradually clear through the afternoon, with highs warming into the low to middle 60s.Rain with a few thunderstorms return late Wednesday evening and night. Rain will move out by early Thursday morning. Thursday will be a bit cooler, but still mild with a mix of sun and clouds. Another chance for rain returns late in the evening, with shower chances lingering into early Friday. Most of Friday is expected to stay dry, with highs in the low 50s.Drier Saturday with seasonable temperatures in the low 50s. Looking ahead, a more active pattern returns with chances for storms Sunday and Monday as temperatures jump into the low 70s. Rain chances continue Tuesday, with afternoon highs dropping back into the low 50s.
MILWAUKEE —
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Early rain showers Wednesday morning, with parts of the area seeing a wintry mix as temperatures start near freezing. Showers move out later this morning. Skies will gradually clear through the afternoon, with highs warming into the low to middle 60s.
Rain with a few thunderstorms return late Wednesday evening and night. Rain will move out by early Thursday morning. Thursday will be a bit cooler, but still mild with a mix of sun and clouds. Another chance for rain returns late in the evening, with shower chances lingering into early Friday. Most of Friday is expected to stay dry, with highs in the low 50s.
Drier Saturday with seasonable temperatures in the low 50s. Looking ahead, a more active pattern returns with chances for storms Sunday and Monday as temperatures jump into the low 70s. Rain chances continue Tuesday, with afternoon highs dropping back into the low 50s.
OSHKOSH (WLUK) — The state defense lawyers association argues the judge made a mistake in allowing a Winnebago County jury to hear the case against Jason Lindemann, who crashed his power boat into a cruise boat.
Lindemann was sentenced to five months in jail and three years on probation and ordered to perform 150 hours of community service as a result of the July 9, 2022, crash between his powerboat and the On The Loos paddlewheel cruise boat. He was also ordered to pay $11,702.79 in restitution. The crash injured more than a dozen people.
Lindemann has appealed, claiming he drove his boat like “every boater does” and that the evidence doesn’t support the convictions. Prosecutors replied it believes Lindemann’s conviction should be upheld. Lindemann’s reply brief due is due April 14, then the appeals court will review the case and issue a ruling. That’s expected to take several months.
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Surveillance video of a July 9, 2022, boat crash on the Fox River in Oshkosh. (Courtesy Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office)
On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed what’s known as a ‘friend of the court’ brief, offering its input on the issue of jury selection.
Brief from the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers arguing for Jason Lindemann’s conviction in an Oshkosh boat crash to be overturned.
Click here to view the PDF file
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It noted the extensive publicity on case, from the day of the crash, onwards.
“WACDL submits that a careful analysis of precedent, and a realistic assessment of the pretrial publicity at issue, require that prejudice be presumed. Lindemann’s community was sufficiently against him that drawing his jury from Winnebago County violated his due process rights. The circuit court thus erred in denying his request for a change of venue, and reversal is warranted,” wrote attorney Megan Sanders.
The brief also argues the judge’s faith in voir dire — the juror screening and selection process — was “unfounded,” given the case’s publicity.
It argues the convictions should be overturned.
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“There is an effective solution for the due process problem at issue here. Case law supports it, Lindemann sought it, and the State — after explaining its concerns about proceeding in Winnebago County — declined to contest his request. Under these circumstances, and with no cogent rationale for keeping the case in Oshkosh, the circuit court erred in denying Lindemann’s motion for a change of venue,” the brief states.
A pair of John Blackwell’s former teammates wasted no time expressing how they felt about his departure.
The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball squad took a huge hit on April 6 when its star point guard announced he’d be entering the transfer portal.
Blackwell posted a farewell message that received mixed reactions, but both Nolan Winter and Austin Rapp expressed their gratitude for getting to play alongside the Michigan native.
“My brother!! Coming into college with you, it’s meant everything to do it by your side. Through all the ups and downs we went through, I won’t forget a second of any of it… go do what you do JB. For life,” Winter wrote.
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Rapp added, “Gonna miss big bro, appreciate this year with you John Blackwell.”
Winter has been with the Badgers since the 2023-24 season, the same year Blackwell joined the program. Rapp, the Portland transfer, only was able to spend one year with Wisconsin’s guard who averaged just shy of 20 points per game.
Badgers fans are still awaiting decisions from Winter and Rapp, though neither has indicated they’ll be continuing their collegiate careers elsewhere.
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