In a recent poll conducted on behalf of the Wyoming Liberty Group, Wyoming taxpayers overwhelmingly supported our Taxpayer Protection Pledge by saying they would be much more likely to vote for a candidate who had signed the pledge. In the same poll, voters said they believed Wyoming could get it's deficit spending under control through cuts in sta...

Several states have been moving their health care systems in a more patient centered direction. Reforms that empower patients to find better value in their health care systems is a win-win scenario for both the patient and taxpayers. Their patients now have both the right information and incentives to find the best health care at the lowest price. ...

by Charles Katebi Twenty years ago, President Bill Clinton signed welfare reforms into law that revolutionized American anti-poverty policy. Critics warned these changes would cruelly condemn vulnerable families to extreme hardship. But new evidence shows these reforms lifted millions of families out of poverty. According to a new study by the non-...

by Stephen Klein Wyoming's reform of civil asset forfeiture, which passed unanimously in the 2016 Budget Session, went into effect on July 1. Already, the reform has lived up to its name, which is illustrated by comparing two cash seizure cases—one that began before the reform, and one after. Asset forfeiture is a process by which law enforcement s...

Rep. Marti Halverson - September 2016  Medicaid Expansion is Not Good for Wyoming Citizens. In 1965, Medicaid was designed to help poor pregnant women and their small children, the impoverished elderly and the disabled – the truly needed among us. (1) Under original Medicaid, Wyoming pays 50% and the federal government pays 50%. Under the gove...

We all get the warm fuzzies, don't we, when the auto mechanic confidently assures us he knows the cause of our car's clunking, that it can be fixed by end of day and it will only cost a small amount? Sure; but then hope and reality clash when the work starts. Taking a look under the hood, the mechanic decides whatever it is, it's going to take long...

by Charles Katebi Testimony before the Wyoming Labor, Health, and Social Services Committee, August 25, 2016 My name is Charlie Katebi. I'm a policy analyst with the Wyoming Liberty Group. I'd like to thank the Department of Health for researching and bringing greater attention to Wyoming's lack of healthcare transparency, and why we need greater c...

We read frequently about employers who desperately want to hire and put people to work. And we often read about how young people are desperate to find jobs "with a living wage." So why aren't they teaming up and living happily ever after? Where's the disconnect? It's in basic skills. Employers routinely report that people they interview don't have ...

Wyoming has been paying a ton of money for K-12 education since 2005. The reason for the heavy spending? It was a major Wyoming Supreme Court/Legislative overhaul of the way our schools were being funded to equalize spending among students. Now we find that the consultants, on whose advice the spending was largely based, criticize the system for we...

by Charles Katebi Since Obamacare became law, patients have seen their health insurance choices disappear. There are fewer insurers selling fewer plans with narrower networks than ever before. And now Obamacare's architects want to snuff out the few remaining private options and replace them with government rationing and substandard healthcare. Pre...

CHEYENNE, WY: The Wyoming Liberty Group released its Taxpayer Protection poll question results today, showing that 65 percent of respondents are more likely to vote for a candidate who has signed a pledge promising to not raise state taxes. "The people of Wyoming are sensible so of course are more likely to vote for candidates who commit to voting ...

Charlie Katebi and Glenn Woods discuss the debate over Medicaid expansion in Wyoming and why it threatens the health of vulnerable and low income patients. 

by Charles Katebi There's no question that Wyoming needs reforms that make healthcare more affordable, accessible, and responsive to the needs of patients. Expanding Medicaid under Obamacare is not one of them. Instead, the program crowds out private insurance, underpays doctors, and delivers terrible outcomes to patients. For starters, Medicaid ex...

In this short video, Charlie Katebi explains why Medicaid can't afford to take care of Wyoming's most vulnerable patients. It's time for something new. 

by Charles Katebi Every year, Wyoming taxpayers spend hundreds of millions of dollars on Medicaid. Yet we have little to say in its management. The federal government mandates who Medicaid covers, what it pays for, and how it pays doctors. Because of all these mandates, Medicaid has grown too large and cumbersome to ensure patients have reliable ac...

State revenues are declining dramatically and are expected to continue to decline. That means big ticket items, even crucial ones like K-12 education, must feel the pinch. No one wants the quality of education in Wyoming to drop, but the spending on it must decrease. Why? The Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG) projected in January that total...

We often point to the third-party payer problem as the cause of the explosion in health care costs. Insurers pay doctors who provide services to patients. This separation of payer and patient means the patient has little incentive to question the cost or even the quality of service. Now imagine what would happen if a big part of a state's spending ...

Charlie Katebi and KGAB's Gary Freeman discuss Governor Matt Mead's budget cuts and how the state's fiscal crisis exposes Medicaid's empty promises to patients. 

WyLiberty's financial analyst Bob Nelson talks about the annual cost of K-12 education in Wyoming.  

An accidental step towards real reform may benefit the charitable sector. Wyoming government revenues will not meet projections for the 2017-18 biennium. With a projected shortfall of between $240 and $510 million, Governor Mead responded by cutting the 2017-18 biennium budget by $248 million, or about 8-percent of the 2-year general fund budget of...