GO BROKE AND DIE WAITING IN LINE In Montana, Medicaid spending grew from 17% to 26% of the overall budget (2015 to 2018, after expansion). These cost increases are consistent in every expansion state with available data, along with dramatically higher enrollment and cost than initial projections. Perhaps the former Montana speaker doesn't see that ...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff Earlier this year we saw the darkly funny story set overseas when a terrorist instructing his class on how to build and use a suicide belt, blew himself up and took his 21 pupils along with him. No one can predict exactly how many future innocent lives were saved by this academic mishap, but everyone agrees that we ar...

PART I, WHAT IS MEDICAID?  Chapter 1 A History of Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program created in 1965 that helps pay medical costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits such as nursing home care and personal care services. Medicaid is the largest medical and health-re...

Late in the afternoon on Monday, February 10th, 2020, the Wyoming State Legislature failed to pass House Bill 75, a measure intended to pave the way for Medicaid expansion. Although the bill failed before it could officially be introduced in the House of Representatives, examining the contents of House Bill 75 closely to determine whether or not ex...

The Department of Health released their final report on Medicaid expansion in Wyoming and enrollment cost projections. Medicaid already covers hundreds of poverty-stricken individuals in our state. But, the Revenue Committee in the Wyoming Legislature would like the full body to consider expanding Medicaid to non-disable, childless adults, over the...

by Evan Blauser Lawmakers say Medicaid expansion is an "investment" for Wyoming. The numbers say otherwise. Prior to the passage of a Medicaid expansion bill at the Interim Revenue Committee's meeting on November 12th, 2019, select lawmakers made claims about Medicaid expansion functioning as an investment from the federal government into the state...

by Evan Blauser A National Overreliance on Federal Grant Money Medicaid is an open-ended federal match program with a national average match ratio of 60 - 40, meaning 60% of funding comes from the Federal government, and the remaining 40% comes from the states. Due to the open-ended match status of Medicaid, states have a built-in incentive to expa...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff Imagine someone walking into a hotel in New York saying "the same hotel room would only cost $80 in Wyoming, so you should only charge me $80 for this $250 room". Absurd? Of course it is. The cost of doing business varies from state to state, even from county to county. Taxes vary, market wages vary, the regulatory bu...

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...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Staff Some citizens who have corresponded the Revenue Committee in opposition to tax hikes have been asked for input on where the state can make budget cuts. This is a welcome question, one that legislators have asked before. Before I respond to this request, I would like to point out that there is not exactly a vacuum wher...