Wyoming families are struggling to afford healthcare. Here are two solutions.

Wyoming health care is at a pivotal crossroads. With the arrival of federal Rural Health Transformation  funding, the work of state task forces, and a primary election that demonstrated voters’ clear demand for constructive governance, healthcare is dominating public debate.

The central takeaway from all this discussion is clear. Wyoming families are paying too much for care, and healthcare costs remain among voters’ top concerns heading into the fall. Among all the difficult proposals to address this problem, two are clear and available now: Focus new federal funding on rural healthcare access, and permanently extend Medicaid care for new moms to a full year after giving birth.

For more than a decade, Healthy Wyoming has advocated for policies that make healthcare affordable and accessible. Over that time, we consistently urged lawmakers to make our state Medicaid coverage available to all low-wage citizens. That is a policy that has strengthened rural hospitals and public health in neighboring states.

Practically speaking, what can state leaders do to meet challenges as they exist today? Those challenges include new federal work-reporting rules under 2025 federal bill H.R. 1 — the so-called Big Beautiful Bill Act — shifting administrative burdens, and evolving federal budget guidelines. Broad Medicaid expansion faces real implementation and fiscal hurdles. However, Wyoming cannot afford to stand still. We must focus on tangible, immediate steps that protect access and stabilize our communities right now.

In the coming months, Healthy Wyoming will focus our advocacy on two urgent, high-impact priorities:

First, safeguarding rural investment. As Wyoming begins allocating more than $200 million in federal Rural Health Transformation dollars, Healthy Wyoming will serve as a watchdog for patients and local communities. These funds must directly protect essential local services — including rural emergency rooms, EMS transport, clinic staffing and mental health services — so families in frontier counties can access care close to home.

Second, making 12-month postpartum care permanent. In 2023, the Wyoming Legislature demonstrated genuine pro-family leadership by approving a temporary extension of postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a full 12 months. That extension is set to expire in March. When lawmakers convene in Cheyenne this winter, Healthy Wyoming will ask them to remove that sunset and make 12-month care a permanent fixture in state law.

The medical and economic case for permanent postpartum care is overwhelming:

• Clinical necessity: Nationwide, more than half of pregnancy-related complications and maternal deaths occur after the initial 60-day window, driven by cardiovascular conditions, chronic disease flares and behavioral health struggles.
• Mental health in our frontier state: Between 13% and 20% of new mothers experience postpartum depression, with symptoms frequently emerging or peaking between three and nine months after delivery — long after the old 60-day cutoff. In a state facing an acute mental health provider shortage and tragic suicide rates, no new mother should be dropped from care when she is most vulnerable.
• Good governance and fiscal sense: This policy does not expand eligibility to a single new group; it simply ensures mothers already enrolled receive uninterrupted care through their baby’s critical first year. The federal government covers half the cost through regular matching funds, and permanent authorization gives rural hospitals and state administrators the certainty they need to plan budgets and keep clinic doors open.

Pro-family policy is not just a slogan — it is the commitment to ensure mothers and babies survive, recover and thrive. Making 12-month postpartum coverage permanent and responsibly stewarding rural health investments are common-sense steps Wyoming can achieve together right now.

Healthy Wyoming will continue working with lawmakers, providers and local communities to build a health care system that works for every Wyomingite.