Bill > AB855

This bill expands eligibility for BadgerCare Plus, Wisconsin's health insurance program for low-income families and individuals, to include adults with family incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line, which is a measure of income used to determine poverty. This expansion is intended to leverage enhanced federal funding for Medicaid, a joint federal and state program providing health coverage to eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults, and people with disabilities. The bill also establishes new criminal penalties for fraud within parental choice programs, which are programs allowing students to attend private schools using public funds, by making it a misdemeanor to provide false information on applications and a felony to misuse program funds or conceal eligibility changes, with penalties increasing based on the amount of misused funds. Additionally, the Department of Justice and district attorneys are given explicit authority to prosecute criminal violations related to parental choice programs, and the Department of Public Instruction will be notified of any such prosecutions.