Dear Wisconsin Senators,
I appreciate the sacrifices you are making to fight for the rights of the Wisconsin public. I realize, as I’m sure you do too, that may see you as cowards who are afraid to face this legislation head on. The truth is, how can you? If you show up the bill get’s passed. I applaud your efforts to do what you can to raise awareness and stall this bill and to be sure the voters you represent have the ability to be truly informed and heard. I hope that your absence will also ensure all of our Wisconsin Senators take a long hard look at what Gov. Walker is proposing.
While I am not a teacher, state employee, or union employee, I am a Mom. I the mother of three beautiful children, two of which have a disability. My two son's share a rare and complicated medical condition- in a short summary their pituitary glands do not work as they are suppose to or do not work at all. This condition has a trickle down effect on almost every facet of their quality of life. Their condition requires a team of skilled specialists and very frequent and very expensive monitoring, as well as many hours on the road for our family. My boys medications alone are a minimum of $1200.00 per month and that is but a slice of their treatment cost. While my boys are only one and four years old, we know their treatment will be lifelong. With the ever increasing cost of prescription medications and medical treatment, we expect their medical cost to increase exponentially in the future.
My husband carries a private family insurance plan through his employer, however we greatly rely on Wisconsin Medicaid Badger Care program as a secondary insurance provider to pick up the costs above and beyond what our private insurance policy covers annually. If Gov. Walker succeeds in passing this bill it's within his grasp to reduce the maximum income requirements for our family to qualify for the Wisconsin Medicaid program. While our household income at the surface seems like a sufficient amount for a family of 5 to survive on, for us it's not. The medical debt we have incurred over the past 5 years has us strapped. We don’t drive brand new vehicles, we’ve postponed many finishing projects on our home and we’ve made huge financial sacrifices to keep the things we have worked so hard for. The amount of medical payments that we would incur should Gov. Walker reduce or eliminate the opportunity for our family to participate in the Badger Care program, despite our private insurance, could be the final blow to our sinking financial ship.
So on behalf of myself and my family I would like to greatly extend my gratitude for doing your best to stop the madness that is going on right now in Madison. Thank you for your service to our great state!
With Warm Regards,
Sarah Fox
