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Stories, Stats, Impacts: Wyoming Public Media is here to keep you current on the news surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

Wyoming Senate pulls insurance from vaccine discrimination bill and clarifies COVID-19 vaccine status as a protected class

Wyoming Capitol building
Stephanie Joyce
/
Wyoming Public Media

The Wyoming Senate made a major change to a bill that is focused on punishing public facilities that discriminate against people over their COVID-19 vaccination status. The bill is intended to make COVID-19 status a protected class.

A big part of the bill was to punish health insurance companies that discriminate against those without vaccinations. But Casper Sen. Drew Perkins spoke with a healthcare expert who told him that if the state does that, it would put the state and many residents in non-compliance, which could have a devastating impact on consumers.

"About 98 percent of the individual policies that are issued and held by Wyomingites are covered under the ACA and obtained through the federal marketplace," said Perkins. "And if we remove that from compliance, then what happens is the federal subsidy to those individuals who obtain insurance under the marketplace goes away."

Perkins said it could lead to a number of people not being able to afford insurance. The Senate decided to remove the health insurance discrimination provision from the bill.

The Senate also amended the bill to make it clear that violating the rights of those who've not been vaccinated would be subject to the same penalties as other instances of discrimination.

Several Senators say they object to that designation and Casper Sen. Jim Anderson calls the bill "awful." It will be debated for a final time on Friday.

Bob Beck retired from Wyoming Public Media after serving as News Director of Wyoming Public Radio for 34 years. During his time as News Director WPR has won over 100 national, regional and state news awards.
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