Wyoming’s numbers on the Affordable Care Act marketplace for health insurance plans are down compared to last year. The open enrollment window passed last week.
Over 5,000 fewer Wyomingites opted for marketplace plans after Congress allowed enhanced premium subsidies to expire late last year, which had made the ACA significantly more affordable. More than 46,000 Wyomingites signed up for marketplace plans in 2025. Those numbers come from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“Many Americans are just finding that marketplace coverage no longer fits in their budget,” said Natasha Murphy, health policy director at the Center for American Progress policy institute in D.C. “They cannot afford to pay the premiums.”
The federal subsidies resulted in a steady expansion of Wyomingites with ACA coverage each year since the Biden administration expanded them in 2021. The credits increased financial assistance, specifically to people earning above 400% of federal poverty guidelines.
This year reversed the trend, with an 11% decrease in sign-ups.
Wyomingites will feel the crunch of the new healthcare reality the hardest, according to data compiled by the health policy organization KFF. The state faces the highest average surge in premium costs in the country, with some people experiencing costs for basic plans soaring by upwards of 400%.
Without the federal subsidy, Murphy said many Americans are opting to forgo insurance altogether, a trend she expects to worsen in the next few months as more feel the blow of the new sticker price. KFF expects a fuller picture on the impacts by summertime.
That could further hurt hospitals’ finances, which are already facing reduced revenue from property tax cuts and a general rise in administering care without being paid for it.
When the enrollment window closed for most states on Jan. 15, including Wyoming, Murphy said 800,000 fewer Americans had selected plans compared to the same date last year.
