Momentum building for Medicaid expansion in Wyoming

Medicaid expansion has been a hot-button issue in Wyoming for years. Activists are pushing harder than ever to make Wyoming the next expansion state. And while expansion is popular among Wyoming residents, the state legislature has consistently opposed it. If it fails this year, activists say they'll make their voice heard at the polls and make another push in 2023.

Gina Smith is a direct support professional who works with the elderly in Cheyenne. She would like to be a certified nursing assistant (CNA), but her dreams were put on hold last Halloween when she wound up in the hospital, in need of a heart catheter.

Smith was not making enough to afford her own insurance or to qualify for the premium tax credit to help subsidize her insurance, but she was making too much for traditional Medicaid.

"I have three children," Smith said. "My husband is disabled, he's on social security. And we still don't qualify for Medicaid in Wyoming. So I have fallen in the gap."

Read more: https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/open-spaces/2022-02-18/momentum-building-for-medicaid-expansion-in-wyoming