by Evan Blauser Medicare's History and Background At the height of the President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty" and "Great Society", the idea of paying in advance for senior's medical costs was presented and passed by the 89th Congress in 1965, and Medicare came into fruition. Since their inception, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security hav...

On March 17th staff member Robert Nelson had the opportunity to sit down with KGAB host Glenn Woods. They discussed topics based on education such as Wyoming's education budget and the upcoming work of the recalibration committee. They also discussed the recent legislative session and it's most engaged legislators. 

Ever wonder what it's like to testify in front of a committee? Watch as our very own Robert Nelson testified to the Wyoming House Education committee last January. 

After months of review and mammoth change, the Wyoming legislature sent Governor Mead's budget back to him for his signature. When the governor sent it back – signed – it had more line item vetoes than ever before. The nature of Governor Mead's line item vetoes in the Wyoming budget bill created a couple of underlying themes. According to Governor ...

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free. PJ O'Rourke Choosing to expand Medicaid is like deciding to marry for the sake of a dream honeymoon when disillusionment is the likely outcome. Fortunately, seven members of the Joint Appropriations Committee rescued Wyoming from a looming and ill-conceived ...

When politicians justify handing out public dollars for private benefit, they use the word investment to spin this spending into something more palatable to voters. However, state directed spending in the economy is nothing more than economic central planning in disguise. To stop the growth in central planning in Wyoming, we must bring the state's ...

During Governor Mead's Business Forum in Cheyenne in November 2015, Dr. Robert Behn from Harvard University presented his theory on the budget cut challenge in the lead up to a discussion by a panel of legislators. Wyoming legislators must decide how to deal with a 25 percent reduction in revenue, a $155 million deficit in the education account for...

The state of Wyoming earmarks tobacco settlement funds to certain programs — and guess what. The programs cost more than the revenue they receive. As you might expect, the knee jerk reaction to this is to raise tobacco taxes to cover the shortfall. But let's take a closer look. The Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund was set up after a 1998 settlement be...

Governor Mead announced he will cut approximately $200 million from the current fiscal year's spending. This apparent burst of fiscal conservatism came as a result of a clause in the 2014 budget bill directing the governor to review agency budgets and reduce them if it looks like the fall in tax revenue will result in a deficit. Revenue has been on...

Wyoming faces a multi-million dollar deficit in the 2017-18 biennium and the specter of plummeting revenue looms large on the horizon. Why then, is the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) about to rubber stamp funding to help lift a new $18 million terminal off the ground at an airport that just last year lost 50 percent of its customer seating ...