MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Latest on the state Assembly taking up a bill that would guarantee health insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions (all times local):
5:15 p.m.
Assembly Republicans have passed a bill that would force health insurers to cover pre-existing conditions.
The chamber passed the bill 76-19 on Tuesday. The measure goes next to the state Senate.
Assembly Republicans pushed the bill after Democrats hit them on the campaign trail last year on pre-existing conditions, noting that Republican leaders joined a multistate lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. Parts of the act guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers demanded Republicans tweak the bill to eliminate annual and lifetime limits on coverage as well as provide coverage for mothers and newborns and for prescription drugs.
Assembly Republicans tweaked the bill Tuesday to prohibit annual and lifetime limits but scrapped the rest of Evers' requests.
The bill's prospects look murky in the Senate. That body let a similar bill die last session. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald's spokesman says Senate Republicans will discuss the measure next week.
