In March 2013, the Pew Charitable Trust's Stateline Project estimated that

"more than a quarter-million veterans who lack health insurance will miss out on Medicaid coverage because they live in states that have declined to expand the program under the Affordable Care Act."

Because Wisconsin decided not to expand Medicaid, the state turned down an estimated $1.8 billion in federal funding, monies that would have been spent in our local economies. But the harmful consequences go beyond an abstract economic hit. They reach real people: folks who would be able to have health insurance coverage through BadgerCare if Walker and his party had done the right, moral, and responsible thing. 

And it turns out that those people left out are not just any "folks." A large number of veterans fall into the excluded category. Pew estimates that that 6,400 Wisconsin veterans won't have health insurance because Wisconsin refused the Medicaid expansion.

Wisconsin thanks its veterans for their military service, right? Except when it comes to the ideologically-driven, mean-spirited decision to let these brave men and women go it alone.