Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley is promising to expand the state's BadgerCare program to all of Wisconsin, which is nothing short of enacting socialized medicine in the Dairy State. There's just one problem: he won't explain who will pay for that expansion or how.
According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the monthly premium for this "affordable" healthcare would be more than $900 a month per family. This writer can't afford that for her family; she doubts many other Wisconsin families can. So it's no wonder Crowley refuses to answer questions about the costs or who would be footing the bill.
David Crowley is asked how much his massive expansion of BadgerCare would cost.
— Tiffany War Room (@TiffanyWarRoom) October 14, 2026
He spends one minute refusing to answer the question.
Listen to this liberal word salad.👇 pic.twitter.com/Gz7vpPHaG6
"You want to open BadgerCare enrollment to any Wisconsinite that wants it. How much would that cost?" the reporter, Vanessa Kjeldsen, asks.
"I think what many people may not realize is that those who are uninsured or underinsured, when they go to an emergency room and they're seeing that bill, that's a cost that all of us are bearing," Crowley replies. "Even as private payers. This is going to require also a greater partnership with the federal government."
"What will the state be on the line for? What will the federal government be on the line for?" Kjeldsen then asks.
"Look, we can't make decisions based off of who's president. And so if the Trump administration wants to have that conversation, I'm open to that," Crowley says. "But I don't think that's going to happen. They have gutted Medicare and Medicaid to the tune of a trillion dollars. They've cut, you know, SNAP benefits for our seniors, for our veterans, for working families."
"So how would you pay for it if the federal government won't help out?" Kjeldsen presses him.
"I would say that we do have money," Crowley says. "You know, one, we have to look at all the different, you know, tax breaks that we have given many of these large corporations."
Crowley is again evasive when asked how much his programs are going to cost.
— The Badger Pundit (@JamesBohnWI) October 14, 2026
With less than three weeks to go, at least @VanessaKjeldsen and @AJBayatpour have finally asked the question that is of interest to all Wisconsinites: how much is David Crowley going to raise our… https://t.co/oDUHcsh7kH
This honestly reads like two different interviews spliced together, but it's not. Crowley refuses to answer the question either because a) he doesn't know and didn't prepare or b) he knows and doesn't want to explain that it will require massive tax hikes on all Wisconsinites.
He already alluded to raising business taxes, which will drive jobs out of the state, along with tax revenue.