Along with voters across the country, Wisconsinites headed to the polls on Tuesday, November 8 to choose their preferences for local, state, and federal offices during the 2022 midterm elections.

The election results offer a picture of what long-term care providers might expect for LTC policy over the next 2-4 years. Both state and federal elections will impact policy and advocacy goals for providers across Wisconsin.

WHCA/WiCAL WEBINAR NEXT TUESDAY:

Join WHCA/WiCAL Staff and fellow member providers for a review of the 2022 midterm elections held last week Tuesday, along with a preview of how the election results will impact LTC providers’ reimbursement and policy goals heading into the 2023-25 legislative session.

Webinar: 2022 Midterm Election Recap: What Does it Mean for LTC?
Tuesday, November 15
5:30 – 6:30 pm Central

Learn more and find access information HERE.

ELECTION RECAP

In Wisconsin, the top of the ticket included extremely competitive races for Wisconsin Governor and for the US Senate.

In the Governor’s race, sitting Governor Tony Evers (D) has defeated challenger Tim Michels (R). With 100% of precincts reporting, Evers edged Michels by about 90,000 votes, winning 51.2% to Michels’ 47.8%. The Wisconsin Governor’s race was the most expensive in the country, with well more than $100 million total being spent in the race.

Said Evers: “Over the past four years, I’ve worked hard to keep those promises and tried to do the right thing,” he said. “That’s who I am, folks. Some people call it boring, but you know what, Wisconsin? As it turns out, boring wins.”

In the U.S. Senate race, Wisconsin’s Senior Senator, Ron Johnson, held on to defeat current Lieutenant Governor and Senate Challenger Mandela Barnes. With about 99% of all votes counted, Johnson bested Barnes by about 27,000 votes, winning 50.5% compared to Barnes’ 49.5% of total votes. The Senate race is one of a handful of key races which will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. With Johnson’s win, control of the Senate will come down to races in Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada. The Georgia race will head to a runoff election on December 6 and very likely could be the decisive race to determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Upon his win, Johnson said, “I will do everything I can to help make things better for Wisconsinites and to heal and unify our country.”

In State Legislative races, Republicans increased their control of both chambers of the state legislature, but fell short of their stated goal of achieving a veto-proof majority in the legislature. Given Governor Evers’ victory, Republicans would have had to reach a 66-33 majority in the Assembly and 22-11 majority in the Senate to reach this 2/3 supermajority benchmark. The Senate GOP reached this mark, flipping one seat to increase their majority to 22 of 33 seats. The Assembly GOP flipped 3 seats of 5 needed,  to reach a 64-35 majority.

Thus, Governor Evers’ vetoes will be all but assured to be upheld over any attempts by the legislature to override them.

WHAT THE ELECTION MEANS FOR LTC PROVIDERS

WHCA/WiCAL and AHCA/NCAL have ambitious advocacy goals for the upcoming legislative and Congressional sessions.

On the state level, WHCA/WiCAL has worked hard to build and grow relationships with Gov. Evers and his administration, as well as with Republican legislative leaders. Given that all branches of state elected government held serve on election day, WHCA/WiCAL feels strongly that LTC providers are in a strong position to advance our policy priorities in the next legislative session, which begins in January 2023.

On state budget funding for LTC, Governor Evers and GOP legislative leaders have demonstrated a commitment to investing in Family Care as well as nursing home Medicaid reimbursement. Last session, Gov. Evers offered a strong budget proposal with substantial investments for LTC reimbursement, and the GOP-controlled legislature built upon the Governor’s budget to invest even more. We believe providers are well-positioned to demonstrate the need for additional funding, given skyrocketing costs due to labor shortages, inflation, and ongoing COVID intervention expenses. Given a similar split state government as the last two budgets, we will look to build off advocacy successes in similar proven methods as we have used in the last four years.

On the policy side, regulatory relief via legislative policy change has been a more complicated goal during the Evers administration. Members may recall the years-long effort to align Wisconsin’s CNA training hourly requirement with the 75-hour federal requirement (Wisconsin previously required 120 hours). Governor Evers vetoed the bill the first time it arrived on his desk, although we were later able to pass it when the Legislature included the provision in a COVID-related bill that could not be line-item vetoed).

However, WHCA believes there may be a window to pass meaningful reform in the shape of survey/enforcement reform aimed at consistency and fairness, similar to a bill in Michigan that was passed by a Republican legislature and signed by a Democratic Governor. Michigan stakeholders, including WHCA’s Michigan counterpart, the Health Care Association of Michigan (HCAM), took a global approach to garnering support for the bill, working with Republicans, Democrats, and the state’s survey agency as well. WHCA/WiCAL is currently reviewing what may be feasible here in Wisconsin.

On the federal level, as mentioned above, control of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance. Forecasters currently give Democrats a slight edge in maintaining Senate control, but it is far from a certainty. Control of the House is also still undetermined, although forecasters favor Republicans to take control. However, if Republicans do control the House, it will be by a much smaller margin than was expected prior to election day.

AHCA/NCAL has worked diligently to grow relationships with current key members of the majority, but also with Republicans in the minority. A major issue before the federal government is the impending imposition of a minimum staffing requirement in nursing homes. While the decision will ultimately come from CMS, AHCA/NCAL continues to leverage relationships in Congress to share concerns about a proscriptive, rigid minimum staffing requirement and to stress the need to provide additional funding to implement the requirement so it is not an unpaid mandate.

Please direct any legislative or advocacy questions to WHCA/WiCAL VP of Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs, Jim Stoa.