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Pre-Existing Condition InsuraNce Plan
New program for uninsured individuals with preexisting conditions

Click here to learn more

WELCOME
Every dollar in the health care system comes from our pockets. Our insurance premiums and our tax dollars already pay everyone’s healthcare bills, whether we use the healthcare system or not. Yet, unlike other markets in our economy, consumers have had very little influence over the cost and quality of the services in this market.

This site is dedicated to providing Wyoming consumers with information they need to take advantage of new rights and protections available and to encourage consumer involvement in the ongoing process of implementing the Affordable Care Act.

The website also serves as a place for consumer feedback that is all important to the outcome of health care in Wyoming. Almost everyone agrees now that the system needs to be reformed as soon as possible and that empowering consumers is a necessary part of the solution.

The Supreme Court has ruled the Affordable Care Act constitutional, but discussions don’t end there. The Supreme Court leaves the Medicaid expansion to the states by removing the threat that Wyoming could lose its current Medicaid Program. The Health Benefit Exchange, Medicaid Expansion and other facets of healthcare reform are hanging in the balance.

Dying for Coverage Families USA report

Why Insurance Matters
The uninsured are less likely to have a usual source of care outside of the emergency room.

• Uninsured adults are five times less likely to have a regular source of care than the insured (55 percent versus 11 percent).
• More than half (51 percent) of the uninsured adults who tried to find a new primary care doctor in the past three years reported that it was “somewhat difficult” or “very difficult,” with one in five (20 percent) responding that it was “very difficult.”
• More than two in five uninsured adults (41 percent) reported that a doctor’s office or clinic from which they sought primary care would not accept them as a new patient.

The uninsured often go without screenings and preventive care.

• Uninsured adults are nearly four times more likely than insured adults to delay or forgo getting a preventive care screening due to cost (36 percent versus 10 percent).
• Uninsured women over the age of 50 were about half as likely to have gotten a mammogram in the past two years as insured women (42 percent versus 79 percent).
• Lower-income uninsured people (those with incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level) aged 50 to 64 were five times less likely (10 percent versus 50 percent) than insured people in the same age group to have gotten a colon cancer screening in the past five years.

The uninsured often delay or forgo needed medical care.

• Uninsured adults are more than six times as likely as privately insured adults to go without needed care due to cost (26 percent versus 4 percent).
• Cancer patients without health insurance are more than five times more likely to delay or forgo cancer-related care because of medical costs than insured patients (27 percent versus 5 percent).

Uninsured Americans are sicker and die earlier than those who have insurance.

• Uninsured adults are more likely to be diagnosed with a disease in an advanced stage. For example, uninsured women are substantially more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer than women with private insurance,11 as are uninsured people with colorectal cancer.
• Uninsured adults are at least 25 percent more likely to die prematurely than adults with private health insurance.13

The uninsured pay more for medical care.

• Uninsured patients are unable to negotiate the discounts on hospital and doctor charges that insurance companies do. As a result, uninsured patients are often charged more than 2.5 times what insured patients are charged for hospital services.
• Three out of five uninsured adults (60 percent) under the age of 65 report having problems with medical bills or medical debt.

State Trends in Premiums and Deductibles, 2003–2009: How Building on the Affordable Care Act Will Help Stem the Tide of Rising Costs and Eroding Benefits

Wyoming has more to gain than most states from health care reform.

In Wyoming employer based insurance premiums are rising at a much faster rate than wages - a national trend that is unsustainable and causing many small businesses to not offer insurance to their employees.

Click here for an interactive map.