MADISON (WKOW) -- Some cuts to Wisconsin's BadgerCare program have already been approved, while others are likely coming soon.
That could result in as many as 65,000 lower-income people either losing healthcare coverage or paying more for it.
But, one Wisconsin resident is taking a page out of the recall effort to try and stop that.
It may be close to Christmas and John Hardin may look a little bit like Santa Claus, but he wasn't delivering presents to Gov. Scott Walker's office Thursday.
"I would like to respectfully deliver, just short of 15,000 signatures on a save BadgerCare petition that I started online," Hardin told Gov. Walker's receptionist.
Hardin dropped off the same package at the Department of Health Services.
A man who once had to lean on state medical assistance for his now deceased wife, Hardin's outraged at the Governor's proposal to cut $554 million from the state Medicaid program.
"We need to not make it more difficult for them to have access to health care," said Hardin. "This is the most absurd thing that I've ever heard in my life."
At a November 10th meeting of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, DHS Secretary Dennis Smith testified that the cuts are reasonable.
"An individual in this case, would only lose his eligibility if their income exceeded 200 percent of the federal poverty level," Smith told the committee. "There will be an impact on people who disenroll, because they choose not to pay a premium, a premium that starts at 150 percent of the federal poverty level, not below."
That means, the income eligibility level for a family of three will fall from roughly $37,000 to $24,000 per year.
"I don't know how a mom with two kids, making $25,000 a year who potentially can have a $100 to $110 increase in her BadgerCare payment is going to do that and continue to put gasoline in her car to go to work," said Hardin.
The petition drive would seem to be merely symbolic.
No amount of signatures can force the Governor to change his plans, but Hardin has come to believe the impossible can happen.
"I've heard about things that all of this technology does, you know," said Hardin. "We've overthrown governments all over Africa and suddenly, day after day these numbers just keep mounting. I finally understand the power of this media."
Gov. Walker has said the Medicaid cuts were essential, to help meet the Department of Health Services $1.8 billion budget shortfall, without raising taxes.
