Health care is unaffordable for many in Wyoming. A new group would look for solutions. – WyoFile

In 1993, Wyoming leaders created a commission to make recommendations for reforming the state’s health care system. One in four Wyomingites at the time spent more than 20% of their income on health-related expenses.

Wyomings greatest natural resource is our people, said Thomas Stroock, the U.S. ambassador and Republican state politician who chaired the committee that year. Taking care of your health is essential for the future of our state.

A decade later, the state convened another commission to address many of the same questions about health care affordability. However, cost and affordability remain nagging issues here, say experts in the field.

That reality is spurring state officials to solve the problem with a new commission. But this one, unlike previous iterations, would be permanent: the Wyoming Health Authority.

If you don’t have health care in an area, it’s very difficult to have economic development and stability.

Jen Davis, the governor’s director of health and human services policy

As proposed, this authority would be made up of experts from the public and private sectors who would pool data and real-world experiences to make recommendations on how to improve states’ health care systems. And unlike previous panels, this group would stick around to see them.

They presented the recommendations, but then they ended, Jen Davis, director of health and human services policy for Gov. Mark Gordon, said of the previous attempts. Then there was no ongoing conversation after that to make sure that those recommendations continued to move forward, that those recommendations were still appropriate. They just fell to the ground.

The authority would focus on things like cost, quality, innovation and access to health care, according to the proposal, and would require only one full-time paid position: an executive director.

The mission of that group is to engage in collaborative decision-making to improve health outcomes and economic diversification, Davis told the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services as he introduced the concept Monday. If you don’t have health care in an area, it’s very difficult to have economic development and stability.

However, many concerns were voiced during Monday’s meeting, largely from members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and other far-right politicians. Questions ranged from who would be part of this new authority to whether this new body was necessary when commissions like yours already exist.

“Some of us are concerned about what we see happening in departments and different parts of the medical community,” said Sen. Lynn Hutchings (R-Cheyenne). He also expressed concern that the proposed commission would add an additional layer of governance. This bothers me because you are trying to make light of a process that seems to work very well.

Davis responded that he didn’t think the current system worked that well.

I respectfully disagree, he said. I think that sometimes the voters maybe come to all of you and you hear part of the issue and not necessarily all sides of the issue, and sometimes that results in a policy that doesn’t work for everybody.

The committee voted 8 to 6 in favor of the bill to form a health authority. Lawmakers intend to review and vote on this legislation at their next meeting in June.

History and conflicts of interest

As of now, previous state commissions on health care reform sought to address the rising cost of health care in Wyoming.

[I]In 1993, 126,000 residents paid more than 20% of household income on health-related expenses, while 2021 data shows that 13.5% of our adult population is not seeking care due to high health care cost in Wyoming, task force proposal. he says Regardless of the previous commission’s efforts, Wyoming has not improved the cost and accessibility of health care services.

So now the governor’s health task force is recommending a permanent group to continue what task force members have been doing individually over the past few years. Since the task force is Governor Gordon’s initiative, he could end it.

But skeptical lawmakers at Monday’s meeting asked who would serve on that commission and what their views are.

Do you know they choose us to protect them from the experts? asked Sen. Anthony Bouchard (R-Cheyenne). I like your point about regulatory capture and how these kinds of committees really attract this industry where experts can have a say and maybe control it for better profit or profitability. And that becomes an engine.

Davis said good policy comes from a comprehensive approach in which both sides provide expertise through first-hand experience. But, he noted, many lawmakers don’t work on health care every day, and that authority will have the flexibility to hear hours of testimony from both sides of each issue.

So I think experts are needed, he said. How we define experts is different, depending on which side of the problem you’re on, and that’s okay. We need to have these discussions.

Bouchard was unconvinced and referenced how experts denounced those who questioned the COVID-19 policies. Bouchard was one of Wyoming’s loudest critics of the governments response to the pandemic, at one point suggesting that then-Chief White House Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci should be executed.

Frankly, I’m appalled to think that he would get experts in a room and come and tell us how it’s going to go because they have better views, he said. What is it like to have a certain group of experts, hand-picked experts, hand pickedit will help us decide when everyone has an agenda.

The proposed commission would include only nonpartisan members appointed by the governor, including a licensed nurse, a physician, a hospital administrator, an EMS provider, an employer, a higher education dean or administrator, and a tribal member of the Wind River Indian Reservation, among others.

It would also include ex-officio members, including in part: Davis, the director of the health department, the director of the Department of Family Services and the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services.

Freedom Caucus members also questioned whether this was being done to support Medicaid expansion. Wyoming is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid, and whether the idea of ​​a health care authority was driven by interests outside the state

Davis responded that previous commissions explored similar issues decades ago and that this was a Wyoming-based solution. He also stated that while Medicaid expansion has been discussed by the governor’s health task force, the Legislature has voted against it and I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all solution.