Dec. 5, 2025, 2:03 p.m. CT
- Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would have banned public funds for health care for undocumented immigrants.
- The governor criticized the bill as unnecessary political rhetoric, as federal law already restricts most benefits.
- Supporters of the bill argued it was a preventative measure to stop a future governor from creating such a program.
MADISON – Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Dec. 5 vetoed a bill to ban public funds from covering health care for undocumented immigrants in Wisconsin.
The governor said he objects to “Republican lawmakers passing legislation they acknowledge is unnecessary to prevent problems they admit do not exist, all for the sake of trying to push polarizing political rhetoric.”
The GOP bill would have prevented any state or local funds — or federal funds passing through the state — from being used for health care services for anyone in the U.S. without authorization. It would not apply to cases where funding medical care is required by federal law, or where the ban would result in Wisconsin losing federal funds.
Federal law already bars those without legal status from Medicaid and most other federal benefits, with some exceptions, including emergency care and prenatal services.
Its authors acknowledged that fact throughout debate on the bill, noting that current law already bars non-citizens from enrolling in the state’s Medicaid program, known as BadgerCare.
“All we’re doing is ensuring that no governor or department can just create, by rule, a health care program for people who are here illegally,” bill author Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, told reporters before the Senate voted on party lines to pass it last month.
Ahead of the Senate vote, Wanggaard pointed to states like Minnesota, which repealed state-subsidized health insurance for undocumented immigrants in June, and Illinois, where spending on such a program significantly outpaced predictions. In California, enrollment in a similar program is set to freeze as the state faces a budget crunch.
“This bill didn’t take health care away from anyone. There is literally only one reason to veto this bill – you want illegal aliens to have taxpayer-funded health care,” Wanggaard said in response to Evers’ veto. “States like California, Illinois and Minnesota went down this path and realized it was an expensive mistake and suspended or repealed taxpayer funded illegal alien health care. I guess Evers has less sense and is more liberal than Tim Walz, JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom and that’s saying something.”
In his veto message, Evers cited the bill’s authors’ acknowledgments that the bill would not affect the way Wisconsin currently operates.
“These basic but important admissions by its own co-authors underscore that Republicans’ decision to pass this bill was more about being inflammatory, stoking fear, and sowing division than it was about accomplishing any significant policy outcome or being prudent stewards of taxpayer dollars. Therefore, I must veto this bill,” Evers wrote.
Jessie Opoien can be reached at [email protected].
