Efforts in support of Medicaid expansion in Wyoming are picking up steam.

Post-“Roe” Wyo: The upcoming fight for abortion rights

Abortion remains temporarily legal in Wyoming as challenges to the Legislature’s 2022 “trigger ban” play out in court. If state judges ultimately decide that the ban is unconstitutional—a pretty likely outcome—the fight will move back to the Legislature and then, potentially, to a vote in 2024. The 2022 general election this fall will play a large role in shaping these events, and in any case pro-choice advocates will need to organize to win. Overturning Roe v. Wade did not end abortion rights in Wyoming. In fact, it was just the beginning.
Clockwise, from top left: Rep. Albert Sommers, Sen. Cale Case, Rep. Sandy Newsome, Rep. Steve Harshman, Sen. Stephan Pappas, Rep. Barry Crago, Sen. Wendy Schuler, and Rep. Landon Brown all support Medicaid expansion and won their 2022 GOP primaries.

GOP Medicaid expansion supporters defeat primary challengers

Many GOP lawmakers have wrung their hands and worried that doing what they know is right—supporting Medicaid expansion—would cost them at the polls. But overwhelmingly, GOP incumbents who backed Medicaid expansion won on Tuesday, dispelling those fears.
Women in Rawlins will have to drive 100 miles to deliver a baby in a hospital.

Wyoming lawmakers stand by as two more hospitals close their maternity wards

Wyomingites understand that we do not have the cutting-edge medical facilities that big cities offer. But that does not mean we should force small-town women to face stressful and even dangerous situations in order to safely give birth. Our state can have a hospital system that serves us all. But that means we need legislators who are willing to help support it.
While Wyoming legislators wring their hands and worry about reelection, 25,000 Wyoming residents lack any reasonable access to affordable healthcare.

Procedural hurdles and political calculations help trip up Wyoming Medicaid expansion

Rules governing the legislature’s “budget session” and lawmakers wary of right-wing primaries helped thwart efforts to pass Medicaid expansion this year. Meanwhile, grassroots advocates vow to mobilize around the 2022 elections.
Attendees of a Healthy Wyoming vigil in Cheyenne last fall.

Medicaid expansion has momentum as the Wyo Legislature’s 2022 session approaches

Advocates for healthcare access have built a grassroots movement to convince lawmakers to finally expand the state's program. But procedural hurdles during the "budget session" remain.

Ten FACTS about Wyoming's Medicaid coverage gap

1. Tens of thousands of people in Wyoming don’t have health…
RIP Mike Enzi. You got far better treatment than most of us could hope for.

What Mike Enzi’s death says about Wyoming’s healthcare system

The medical treatment the former U.S. Senator received after his recent accident starkly contrasts the Wyoming healthcare system most of us are stuck with—counties that can’t afford ambulances, hospitals that can’t treat patients, and people for whom a trip to the ER means massive medical debt.
Medicaid expansion typically benefits state budgets and improves residents' health.

Wyoming lawmakers eye funding options for Medicaid upgrade

The Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee will take up Medicaid expansion this week, with a focus on translating some of the $1.4 billion Wyoming will receive from the American Rescue Plan into sustainable healthcare funding for low-income residents.
Ninety percent of the Department of Health's budget funds community health centers.

Public health cuts hit communities across Wyoming

The Legislature cut more than $100 million from the Wyoming Department of Health’s budget this session, including tens of millions from mental health and substance abuse programs while the state is experiencing a suicide crisis.
Efforts in support of Medicaid expansion in Wyoming are picking up steam.

A single vote stops Wyo. Medicaid expansion, but a movement grows

Two identical bills to update Wyoming’s Medicaid program came before the same Senate committee this session. A senator who supported the first bill flipped and killed the second. But not before a movement coalesced that will continue to fight for affordable healthcare access in Wyoming.