Even though Medicaid Expansion was killed in the State Senate last week, Wyoming’s free clinics will continue providing primary care to the so-called “working poor.”
Sarah Gorin is the Executive Director of the Downtown Clinic in Laramie, which supported the bill.
"It’s pretty disappointing because it would have benefitted our clients," she said.
The Downtown Clinic provides counseling, diagnostic and lab testing, and emergency dental work to about 475 uninsured individuals in a given year. Gorin says the Legislative debate about Medicaid expansion often seemed misguided. She points to an amendment that would have required recipients to hold a job.
"People need health care in order to work. And there was a lot of concern about people need to be working. Well if you need to have a condition addressed so that you can work, you’re between a rock and a hard place if you can’t get healthcare," Gorin said.
A bill is working its way through the legislature that would help pay for uncompensated care in public hospitals. But that money would only go towards emergency care, and would not cover primary or preventative care.