MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Women in Wisconsin will soon be eligible to receive expanded Medicaid coverage for up to a year after giving birth following near-unanimous passage of a measure Thursday by the Wisconsin Assembly that would leave Arkansas as the only state yet to expand such benefits.
Wisconsin Democrats, and even most Republicans, have pushed for years to expand Medicaid coverage for new mothers, only to be blocked by powerful Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. Vos had argued that he opposed expanding welfare programs, but he relented late Wednesday.
The Assembly on Thursday also unanimously passed another bill with bipartisan support to require insurance to cover additional cancer screenings for women with dense breast tissue. The Medicaid bill passed 95-1.
Both measures overwhelming passed the state Senate already, meaning they will next go to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers who is expected to sign them next week.
Once that happens, Arkansas will be the only state without expanded Medicaid coverage for new mothers.
The state — which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country — did pass significant maternal healthcare legislation last year. Pregnant women are now allowed to temporarily receive Medicaid coverage while their eligibility is being processed, and Medicaid covers doula services and remote monitoring of vitals.
But the legislation did not extend postpartum Medicaid coverage, to the chagrin of Democrats and some Republicans.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, called for the maternal health package after opposing the postpartum extension, saying that there are other coverage options.
In Wisconsin, the Medicaid expansion and breast cancer screening bills broke a logjam that comes amid a flurry of last-minute negotiations near the end of the two-year legislative session. Republicans and Evers were also trying to negotiate a package of tax cuts, school spending and other measures, tapping the state's estimated $2.5 billion budget surplus.
Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer led the charge for passage of the Medicaid and breast cancer screening bills. Neubauer announced on Wednesday that she was pregnant and that her mother had breast cancer, saying that Democrats would “stop at nothing to get a vote on these bills.” She called the expected passage of both measures "an incredible win for women and the people of Wisconsin.”
Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, had also shared stories about how their loved ones had been affected by breast cancer as part of the push for passage of the screening bill.
The Medicaid expansion will allow low-income mothers who make more than the poverty level to remain on the state's Medicaid program for a full year after giving birth, instead of the current two months.
Despite agreement on those measures, several other high-profile bills were poised to die at the end of the session. Republicans have not agreed on a measure to provide funding to keep WisconsinEye, a nonprofit state version of CSPAN, on the air.
And the state's nearly 40-year-old land conservation program also faced extinction as lawmakers had yet to agree on a plan to continue funding beyond June 30.
Republicans have complained for years that the program is too expensive and removes too much land from property tax rolls, hurting municipalities. Bills to keep it alive, but with dramatically less funding, have yet to pass.
Associated Press writers Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, and Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.
Democratic Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, surrounded by Democratic colleagues, speaks in support of measures to expand Medicaid coverage for new mothers and insurance coverage for breast exams at a news conference in the state Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Sports and medal events cut from the 2032 Brisbane Olympics program will have a path to return at future Summer Games, IOC President Kirsty Coventry told sports leaders on Wednesday.
Coventry’s reassurance to the annual meeting of Summer Games sports bodies came after she warned in February of “uncomfortable” talks ahead to make future Olympic hosting more efficient.
The International Olympic Committee aims to finalize within months the list of sports on the Brisbane program that Coventry previously told their leaders will be fewer than the 36 being played at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“There is a path (back), it’s not just an end,” the IOC president told The Associated Press on Wednesday on the sidelines of the assembly of the summer sports group known as ASOIF.
Brisbane also could have fewer than the 353 medal events being competed for at Los Angeles.
“I know that not everyone will be happy,” Coventry acknowledged to ASOIF members Wednesday, adding "the goal is not to destroy any sport.”
Coventry also met Tuesday with ASOIF members and assured them “we don’t have specific numbers” as targets for the sports and events program for Brisbane.
The most important metric shapes to be the number of venues needed as the IOC looks to manage costs for hosts.
“The cost and complexity comes when you start adding additional venues for single purpose events,” Coventry told the AP. “That’s where we need to look and say: ‘How could we change that?’”
A major step toward streamlining the program for Brisbane and beyond is a June 24 meeting of the full IOC membership in Lausanne that should agree on a process for evaluating sports and events.
A list of sports at Brisbane could be confirmed in December, with a longer timeline into 2029 to confirm the detailed program of medal events.
The 36 sports in Los Angeles is up from just 26 at the 2012 London Olympics, and ASOIF President Ingmar De Vos later acknowledged, “It has grown too much and needs to be brought back into proportion.”
Modern pentathlon has long been seen as vulnerable to losing its historic Olympic status, while canoe slalom has a very specific venue demand. Sports added to the LA program — including flag football, lacrosse and squash — will be competing for their place in Brisbane before having their showcase in 2028.
The 2036 Olympics hosting contest was paused by Coventry last year in the first big decision of her new presidency. Qatar is widely seen as a strong contender for a project likely to be spread in the Middle East region, which has been targeted during the conflict between the United States and Israel against Iran.
Organizing committee officials overseeing sports and venues came to Lausanne to update federation leaders ahead of a big week in Los Angeles.
Incumbent LA Mayor Karen Bass is trying to secure another term until beyond the Olympics, and there is the annual in-person visit by the IOC panel — known as “cocom” for coordination commission — overseeing games preparations.
“Certainly we are paying attention to it,” Shana Ferguson, LA 2028’s head of sport and games delivery, told the AP about Tuesday's primary election.
One big reveal will be announcing where cycling road races will finish — always a key Olympic event to showcase the city. Paris set a high bar with finish lines framed beneath the Eiffel Tower.
“We are ready — buckle up,” Ferguson said.
ASOIF members are anxious to learn what the IOC will give them as a collective share of Los Angeles Olympics revenues worth several billions of dollars.
With IOC President Coventry sitting in the front row, ASOIF President De Vos called for “fair and sustainable models” to recognize his members’ work and value at the Summer Games.
The IOC paid $590 million from Paris Olympics revenues which was a 9% collective rise on $540 million from the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.
ASOIF members agree their formula to distribute it, with track and field’s World Athletics typically paid the most. That was $39.6 million for Paris, a slight raise from Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“We are increasingly being asked to do more with the same resources,” De Vos cautioned, later noting ASOIF has “three more mouths to feed,” with the governing bodies of skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing now eligible for a revenue share.
De Vos, the International Equestrian Federation president, suggested each Olympic sport could make cost efficiencies and it was "for the IOC also to look into its own operations.”
FILE - IOC President Kirsty Coventry speaks during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (Yves Herman/Pool Photo via AP, file)
