September 17, 2025
I’m happy to share that a lot of attention is going to be given to maternal health in Joint Labor and Health tomorrow! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for good news – especially as labor and delivery units continue to close – the newest in Platte County.
And guess what? There’s a much higher likelihood of good news if you and I tell the committee how important some of these proposed bills are for our families:
- Medicaid rate increases for obstetric (OB) services – This is a good thing! It means doctors and hospitals would receive a bit more money (still not the full amount) for the work they’re doing to keep moms and babies safe.
- Medicaid coverage for birthing centers – Expanding Medicaid coverage to birthing centers gives us another option to improve access to maternity care. Most birthing centers use midwives (whose levels of training differ) and while opinions on midwifery vary, the data show they have equal outcomes to hospitals for low-risk births and can manage low-risk deliveries to help fill gaps in care in Wyoming.
- Insurance coverage for birthing centers – This one requires insurance to cover birthing centers as well.
Copy and paste the emails below, call, or text the Labor and Health Committee to tell them maternal health is important and let them know what proposed bills you’d like to move forward.
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Other Important Info.
- The Dept. of Health needs to hear how you think they should use the Rural Health Transformation Program grant dollars. Fill out the survey here.
- Reach out to Senator Lummis and Senator Barrasso, and Representative Hageman and ask them NOT to let the Enhanced Premium Tax Credit (EPTC) expire. What the heck is the EPTC, you ask? It’s a tax credit that helps make health insurance more affordable to lots of folks. And many more people are insured because of it. It also helps keep premiums prices from going up.
- Here’s one example from the Kaiser Family Foundation: A 40-year-old couple, with two children, earning $80,000 per year could see their premium go from $3,408 per year ($284 per month) to $6,000 per year ($500 per month) on a silver plan. And as more healthy people leave the marketplace because of increased costs, our costs will go up to make up for it.
