Thanks to everyone who signed on to our letter to the editor regarding Medicaid Expansion! Your action and support makes a difference.
As we celebrate Mother’s Day, let’s take a moment to recognize the need to take care of our moms beyond a greeting card and flowers. One of the best ways Wyoming could take care of moms is to make sure each one of them has access to health care.
Being a mom is one of the most important jobs in Wyoming. But like many other essential jobs here, it does not come with health benefits. Low-income Wyoming mothers have access to health care coverage during their pregnancy and the first year postpartum, but beyond that, one in five moms go uninsured.
When a mom goes back to work, she relies on child care. Many child-care workers don’t earn enough to access the health insurance marketplace, but earn too much for Medicaid, putting them in the health insurance gap. States like Wyoming that have not expanded Medicaid to low-income adults have nearly four times the rate of uninsured child-care workers compared to expansion states.
These are problems that need to change.
All Wyoming residents deserve access to quality health care to live healthy, happy lives. Our state remains one of the nation’s worst at making that happen. Only nine other states have declined to expand access to health care, and that’s an injustice to Wyomingites who need care most.
The Wyoming Legislature recognizes this problem. It knows it needs to be fixed, but we have not heard them propose another viable solution to the health-care coverage crisis. It’s time for the state Legislature to help the thousands of Wyoming residents who work hard but still cannot afford private insurance. The clearest, easiest and most beneficial route is to expand Medicaid. But state leadership refuses to do so year after year.
On the issue of expanded health care, we ask for leadership. We ask for true support for Wyoming moms.
In Good Health,
Melissa Behringer, Amy Bey, Betsy Carlin, Kellie Clausen, Kate Foster, Daniel Galbreath, Maureen Giordano, Liz Raider Haigler, Rebekah Smith Hazelton, Marguerite Herman, Maggie Felner Hunt, Meghan Jensen, Arne Jorgensen, Erin Klauk, Sandy Leotta, Hailey Morton Levinson, Rich Miles, Cindy Moore, Lindsey Olsen, Emily Parsons, Rosa Reyna-Pugh, Micah Richardson, Martha Rogers, Sue Sommers, Emily Vercoe, Lindsay Worthem, Beth Worthen