Proposed state health authority faces resistance
CASPER — A push to create a Wyoming Healthcare Authority through legislation is underway, but resistance to create the board is coming from some of the Legislature’s most conservative members.
The proposed authority would only have the power to make recommendations on how to improve health care in the Cowboy State.
“Wyoming has historically struggled to control costs of healthcare and ensure access to services,” said a draft proposal to create the board. “Many factors contribute to cost and access issues including low patient volumes, large geographical areas, difficulty recruiting and retaining healthcare providers and other barriers.”
Roughly 13.5% of the adult population in Wyoming are not seeking care due to the high cost of healthcare in Wyoming, according to 2021 data cited in the drafted proposal.
And 2022 U.S. Census Bureau data showed that 14.8% of Wyoming’s population — roughly 86,044 residents — are still without health insurance.
“Wyoming must acknowledge that we have only made incremental changes in the last 40 years,” said a draft proposal for the creation of a health authority.
The Wyoming Health Authority can only be created through legislation, and the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services committee at a Monday meeting in Afton voted 8-6 to begin drafting legislation.
The “no” votes came from the most conservative members on the committee: Reps. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper; Sarah Penn, R-Lander; Tamara Trujillo, R-Cheyenne; Ben Hornok, R-Cheyenne; and Sens. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne and Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne.
Ward asked for the vote to be recorded.
Skepticism of the health authority ranged from concerns over influence from out of state to create the board to the necessity of the board.
“I understand there’s a push coming from somewhere else — because I can see it happening around the country,” Bouchard said to Gov. Mark Gordon’s Office Senior Policy Advisor Jen Davis.
“No. There is no outside influence on this. We had one of these in 1993. We had one of these in 2003. This has been a concept in Wyoming for a long time,” Davis responded.
Wyoming has had two previous Healthcare Commissions that were later dissolved: one from 1993-1994 and one from 2003-2009.
“We already have the governor’s health task force,” said Penn, who asked Davis why a new health authority is needed.
“The way [the governor’s health task force] found for it to continue is to put it in statute so that it does go on regardless of administration,” Davis responded.
Additional concerns over the board’s authority and fears over the power given to healthcare experts were brought up.
The proposed authority board would be composed of 18 members: six state agency representatives and 12 other governor-appointed members from varying backgrounds, including a practicing Wyoming nurse; practicing Wyoming physician; EMS provider; administrator or dean from a Wyoming higher education institution; Wyoming business owner; private and marketplace insurance carriers; Wind River tribal member, and a consumer member at large.
The health authority would additionally have a full-time executive director.
“The intent is to provide private industry an opportunity to collaborate with public efforts to deliver the most comprehensive and effective healthcare system for Wyoming residents,” said the draft proposal.
This story was published on May 2, 2024.
