Wyoming Health Insurance

Health insurance in Wyoming

● Wyoming uses the federally subsidized health insurance marketplace so that residents sign up HealthCare.gov.

● The open enrollment for 2021 health plans is from 1 November to 15 December 2020. Outside of that window, a qualifying event is required to record or make changes to the plan (in return or out of exchange).

● Short-term health insurance is also available in Wyoming, and plans can be sold with initial terms of up to 364 days.

● Wyoming's Blue Cross Blue Shield was the state's only individual market insurer for five years, but Mountain Health CO-OP became part of the trade for 2021.

● Health insurance rates on the individual market increased slightly in 2020, but BCBSWY reduced average premiums by 10% for 2021.

● Wyoming lawmakers have generally opposed the ACA, including medicaid expansion.

● Wyoming's uninsured rate is above the national average, although it was below the national pre-ACA average.

● Nearly 114,000 Wyoming residents are enrolled in Medicare.

This page is dedicated to helping consumers quickly find health insurance resources in the state of Wyoming. We've included an overview of open enrollment in Wyoming and wyoming's health insurance marketplace, which has two participating insurers as of 2021, with mountain health CO-OP joining after five years of Blue Cross Blue Shield being the only insurer offering individual market plans.

We also addressed Wyoming's refusal to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid, and summarized the state's approach to short-term health insurance. You'll also find details about Medicare in Wyoming and a general collection of health insurance resources for Wyoming residents.

Wyoming tends to be more conservative and has not embraced the Affordable Care Act - opting for a federally facilitated exchange and refusing to expand Medicaid.

Former Governor Matt Mead, a Republican, has pushed for Medicaid expansion for several years and regrets that the state has not yet expanded Medicaid - a decision that cost Wyoming hundreds of millions of dollars in lost federal funding and left its poorest residents without any realistic access to health coverage or help with their medical bills.

Wyoming's health insurance marketplace

Wyoming doesn't run its own health insurance marketplace, so residents use the federally run market, HealthCare.gov, to enroll in individual/family health plans.

The insurance market is used by people who need to buy their own health insurance. This includes pre-roasted pensioners, the self-employed and people employed by small businesses who do not offer health benefits. People who are eligible for Medicare do not use the market, nor do people who are employed by a company that provides them with health insurance (unless they choose to reject the employer's offer of coverage and buy their own plan instead, although financial assistance with premiums would probably not be available in that case).

24,574 people enrolled in private plans through the Wyoming exchange during the open enrollment period for 2020 coverage.

Wyoming open enrollment period and dates

Open enrollment for 2021 health plans is from November 1, 2020 to December 15, 2020. This window is an opportunity for people with individual/family health insurance to switch to a different plan for 2021 or renew the plan they already have and the opportunity for new enrollees to sign up for coverage.

Outside of the open enrollment period, both on the stock exchange and outside of the exchange, Wyoming residents can purchase individual market coverage (or make a change to the plan) only if they experience a qualifying event.

Wyoming Health Insurance Companies and Premiums

For five years, from 2016 to 2020, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming was the only insurer offering plans in the state's health insurance marketplace. But Mountain Health CO-OP has joined wyoming's exchange for 2021 and offers coverage across the state. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming implemented an average rate decrease of 10% for 2021, and CMS confirmed that average benchmark premiums are falling by 10% in Wyoming.

For 2020, average premiums nationwide have been mostly flat, so Wyoming's average medical insurance rates continue to be very similar to those in 2019, but they also continue to be among the highest in the country (but no longer the highest, as West Virginia has taken control of that place). With a 10% reduction for 2021, Wyoming rates are likely to be lower than at least a handful of average premiums from other states. And despite the fact that benchmark premiums are falling (and therefore premium subsidies are also falling), some enrollees will be able to choose from more plans than ever before that are free after subsidies are applied.

Wyoming refers to the federal government for the rate review process, so BCBSWY rate deposits are authorized and approved by federal regulators rather than the state insurance department.

Wyoming and the Affordable Care Act

Wyoming's U.S. congressional delegation consists entirely of Republicans: Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and Representative Liz Cheney. All three are against the ACA.

In 2017, Cheney voted in favor of the American Health Care Act, which was the effort by House Republicans to repeal the ACA. Barrasso and Enzi both voted in favor of all three pieces of legislation that GOP senators introduced in an effort to pass the repeal of the ACA in that chamber. None of these invoices were successful, however, and the ACA still remains in effect. Although opposition to the ACA has been a pillar for Republicans in Congress, barrasso and Enzi's degree of opposition is greater than most. In October 2014, they were both among 14 senators who opposed spending on the temporary high-risk corridor program that was integrated into the ACA in an effort to stabilize individual markets.

Cheney and Barrasso both won re-election in 2018, and both were elevated to the third highest-ranking position for Republicans in their respective chambers. Cheney is the chairman of the House GOP Conference, and Barrasso is the chairman of the Republican Conference in the Senate.

Former Governor Matt Mead was also generally opposed to the ACA, but has supported Medicaid expansion since 2013, having initially opposed it before, when states were considering expansion for the first time. Mead said that while he still believes the ACA is bad for Americans, "there is no approach that untangles us from the ACA. It is on us and we must act.

Mead was limited in time and was no longer executed in 2018. But Governor Mark Gordon, also a Republican, is opposed to medicaid expansion - a position he continues to hold, despite the fact that three neighboring states (Idaho, Nebraska and Utah) have approved ballot measures to expand Medicaid in the 2018 election.

How did Obamacare help Wyoming residents?

Wyoming is the least populated state and the second least densely populated, both contributing to above-average health insurance premiums. According to U.S. Census data, the uninsured rate in Wyoming was 13.4% in 2013, which was below the national average of 14.5% at that point. But by 2018, the state's uninsured rate stood at 10.5%, which was above the national average of 8.9%.

Wyoming's decision not to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid is largely to blame for the below-average reduction in the uninsured rate. An estimated 20,000 people would become eligible for Medicaid if the state expanded coverage. That's almost 3.5% of the state's population, and it would make a considerable dent in the uninsured rate.

Wyoming's average individual health insurance premiums are the second highest in the country in 2020, but this is calculated before premium subsidies are applied. Subsidies in Wyoming are particularly high due to high premiums, and after subsidies are applied, people in many areas can get bronze and even gold plans for free, depending on their income.

But for some people who aren't eligible for premium subsidies, coverage may be inaccessible in Wyoming. Subsidies are not available to people in the coverage gap (which would be eliminated if Wyoming accepted federal funding to expand Medicaid), people affected by the family technical problem, and people earning more than 400% of the poverty level. [The Democratic Party's 2020 platform calls for the removal of the income cap for eligibility for subsidies; instead, it asks enrollees to receive a subsidy if they should pay more than 8.5% of their income for health coverage, regardless of the height of their income; this kind of rule change would be especially useful in a place like Wyoming, where health insurance premiums are much more expensive than average.]

Wyoming Short-Term Health Insurance

Wyoming does not live up to federal limits for the duration of short-term plans. But the Trump Administration loosened those rules in 2018, so short-term health insurance in Wyoming can have initial terms of up to 364 days and a total duration, including renewals, of up to three years.

Medicaid expansion in Wyoming

Although former Governor Mead pushed for Medicaid expansion, Wyoming is currently one of 12 states that have not yet expanded Medicaid eligibility or made progress toward expansion. [Oklahoma and Missouri will expand Medicaid in mid-2021, under the terms of voter-approved election initiatives in 2020.] A legislative committee passed a Medicaid expansion bill in late 2019, but died in committee on the first day of the 2020 legislative session, disappointing hopes of Medicaid expansion for another year.

Because Wyoming has not expanded Medicaid (and is therefore losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding) the state has 12,000 people in the coverage gap, without access to financial assistance with their health insurance. They would be eligible for Medicaid coverage if Wyoming accepted federal funds to expand coverage under the ACA. In total, about 20,000 people would become newly eligible for Medicaid if the state expanded coverage, including people with incomes between 100% and 138% of the poverty level, who are currently eligible for premium subsidies in the exchange.

Does Wyoming have a high-risk pool?

Prior to the ACA, individual health insurance was taken out in nearly every state, including Wyoming, which meant that pre-existing conditions could prevent a person from getting a policy, or could result in significantly higher premiums or policy exclusions.

The Wyoming Health Insurance Pool (WHIP) was created in 1990 to offer people an alternative if they were unable to get individual health insurance because of their medical history.

Now that all health insurance plans are guaranteed problem, high-risk pools are largely outdated. During wyoming's 2015 legislature, SF0064 was approved, allowing the Commissioner to write down risk pool members who could get reasonable coverage elsewhere. This became effective on December 31, 2015.

Medicare coverage and enrollment in Wyoming

As of September 2020, there were 114,264 Wyoming residents enrolled in Medicare. Most of these people - 88% - are entitled to Medicare because of their age (at least 65 years). But the other 12% are eligible for Medicare because of a disability and are not yet 65.

Wyoming Health Insurance Resources

● Wyoming Department of Insurance - Oversees, licenses, and regulates health insurance companies, insurance agents, and brokers

● Wyoming State Health Insurance Information Program - A local resource that provides information and assistance to Medicare beneficiaries