Governor Matt Mead may be changing his mind when it comes to expanding Medicaid services for low income people in the state. After publicly rejecting the notion of Medicaid expansion late last year, the governor says he is negotiating in good faith with the federal department of Health and Human Services to develop a Wyoming specific Medicaid expansion plan.
The legislature added a budget amendment asking state officials to negotiate such a plan after failing to pass an expansion bill last session. During an appearance on last weekend's Open Spaces program, Mead appeared to have a change of heart.
"We may not like it and in fact we don't. But we also recognize that as we do this we have uncompensated care for hospitals of about 200 million dollars a year. That the federal money that we are rejecting now is going to California or Colorado or some other state and so let’s make a pitch and let's see if HHS or CMS accept it or not."
The legislature would have to approve legislation in order for Medicaid to be expanded to some 18 thousand Wyoming residents.
