How the 'Big, Ugly Bill' Hurts You

Barrasso, Hageman and Lummis votes for the Big, Ugly Bill hurt you and hurt Wyoming. 

Consider only the carnage to Medicaid:

     At least 12,000 of your neighbors will lose health coverage

     Wyoming’s uninsured rate shoots UP 20%

     62,000 children and adults in Wyoming will be hurt

    Loss of nearly 200 jobs per year in healthcare, construction, retail and government for the next five years

    More bureaucratic barriers, keeping working people and children off coverage

    Higher costs for Wyoming’s low-income seniors and disabled people with Medicare who also rely on      Medicaid for out-of-pockets costs and access to services not covered by Medicare. 

     Shrink the state’s economy by $140 million over five years

     Take $14.6 million in disposable income from you and your neighbors

Per wyofile.org and Families USA (familiesusa.org)

That’s not the whining of a political party. The Natrona Collective Health Trust and several health-care-related organizations hired Regional Economic Models, Inc., to conduct a nonpartisan study. The study compared the effects of the newly enacted federal cuts with the potential economic gains Wyoming could enjoy under a different scenario: Medicaid expansion. 

“The impacts here start in the health care sector, but they really spread throughout the entire economy, in terms of across different industries,” said study author Dr. Peter Evangelakis, senior vice president of economics and consulting at REMI. 

Evidence-based resource

Natrona Collective Health Trust wanted a similar resource for Wyoming, Rachel Bouzis, the trust’s Director of Policy and Learning, said. Along with the Wyoming Community Foundation, Wyoming Hospital Association, Banner Wyoming Medical Center and American Cancer Society, it commissioned the study — which is the first to evaluate the economic impacts of Medicaid policy in Wyoming, Bouzis said. 

For the study, consultant REMI compared the effects of cuts — which were still just a possibility at the time of analysis — with the potential economic gains Wyoming could see under Medicaid expansion. 

Medicaid in Wyoming

When REMI began the study, Evangelakis said, his team attempted to base estimates of cuts on the most severe reductions that could result from what then was draft legislation. 

“We thought that our estimate would be the worst case,” he said. “It actually turned out that the cuts [in the Big Ugly Bill] were a little bit bigger. But this should still give us a good sense of what the impacts will be.”

“This report confirms what many experts in health care and economic policy have long understood: Medicaid is not just a health program — it has a direct economic impact on Wyoming’s communities,” Natrona Collective Health Trust CEO Beth Worthen said in a release. 

For the cuts, he said, the direct economic impact will be a loss in revenue for health care providers — everything from outpatient providers like dentists to rural hospitals and retail pharmacies.

The study bolsters arguments of health-care advocates that the federal legislation will harm Wyoming’s rural hospitals and lead to less access to health care here.

One Health’s Powell clinic provides services ranging from strep, flu and COVID-19 testing to mental health care. For patients earning up to 200% of the federal poverty level, care is offered on a sliding fee scale.

The Health Trust and its partners had no agenda in mind when they commissioned the study. 

National Scope

The Big Beautiful Bill is projected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by $793 billion over 10 years, resulting in 10.3 million fewer people enrolled nationally, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Changes include increased work requirements and potential penalties for states that have expanded Medicaid.

Where the cuts will lead to a shrinking state economy, the study found, expanding Medicaid in Wyoming would do the reverse. Expanding enrollment could lead to 440 new jobs over five years and a $60.9 million yearly increase in GDP, the study found. That includes a $41.5 million increase in disposable personal income per year, which breaks down to about $160 per family. 

The net five-year difference between Medicaid cuts and expansion is a loss of 3,160 jobs, $444 million in GDP and $260.5 million in personal income, the study finds. 

“So we do see overall, a kind of a lost opportunity, given the negative impact of cuts, and even stronger positive impacts of what an expansion could have brought,” Evangelakis said.

Make you mad? Get involved as a party member

Go here to get involved with the Democratic Party.

Want to know more? Check out these resources:

What has Trump cost you? Go to Trumptax.com

Food help 

Feeding Laramie Valley, 307-223-4399 

Laramie Interfaith, 307-742-4240

Laramie Soup Kitchen, 307-460-1605

Medical  Help

Downtown Clinic, 307-745-8445 

Apply for Medicaid and CHIP