The Legislature’s Joint Health and Labor Committee will once again take up the issue of Health Insurance Exchanges this week. An exchange is an on-line marketplace where consumers can purchase health insurance.
Under the Affordable Care Act, states have to either set up their own exchanges or the federal government will set one up for them. Senator Dan Dockstader is among those preparing exchange legislation for the state, but he says Wyoming needs a partner if the state is to be part of a non-federal marketplace.
“I think if we can convince some states that are in the same situation we are, that also need an exchange, we can move something forward. As a state of 500-thousand people we have some concerns. We just don’t have the population base.”
But Governor Matt Mead says the state has a difficult time finding a partner. Dockstader says it isn’t clear what would happen if the federal government ran Wyoming’s exchange. The committee is scheduled to take up the bill on Thursday.
