Wyoming moving closer to expanding Medicaid?

Like South Dakota and because of the race hatred projected at an African American president and at American Indians Wyoming is another red state that would rather die of cancer, mercury and lead poisoning instead of adopting Medicaid expansion. That is, until now.

Under Section 638 of the Indian Self Determination Act of 1975, government agencies like the Indian Health Service can enter into contracts with federally recognized tribes and allow them to manage funding for their own programs. [Eastern Shoshone Tribe Considers Taking Over IHS Clinic Management]

Gillette is a scary place. It's where ecocide is encouraged and mercury from coal burning power plants is released into South Dakota's watersheds and beyond. The Campbell County Hospital in Gillette has written off millions in noncollectable debt.

The legislature's Joint Revenue Committee approved a proposed bill that will ask Gov. Mark Gordon to explore options for Wyoming's participation in expansion and determine whether it's financially viable for the state. Eventually lawmakers would need to approve a Wyoming plan. The Wyoming Department of Health says some 19,000 Wyomingites could get health insurance under expansion. [Legislative Committee Endorses Medicaid Expansion Bill]

From 2015:

Specifically, the CBO determined that maintaining sequester-level cuts would lead to 500,000 fewer jobs and 0.4% less growth in 2016, and 300,000 fewer jobs and 0.2% less growth in 2017. Many Americans have been led to believe the emerging crisis is solely about Planned Parenthood funding, and that may be somewhat true. However, at the rate Republicans love killing Americans’ jobs and retarding economic growth that the CBO warned is the result of not addressing sequester cuts, pundits should consider the real impetus for the looming crisis is the GOP’s rejection of eliminating their precious sequester.

Read that here.

The “unimaginable horrors” comment came from U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., during testimony to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in Washington about his bill to force the Indian Health Service to undergo a wide-ranging audit. The tribe is alleging that the federal government has failed to uphold its legal obligation to provide health care to tribal members, in part by temporarily closing the Rosebud emergency department in 2015.

Read the rest here.

Kinda makes you sick, init? Yes, the South Dakota Republican Party is a death panel. Jean Rounds, the wife of South Dakota's junior senator went out of state for medical care.

I like the idea of rolling the funding for TRICARE, Medicare, the IHS and the VA together then offering Medicaid for all by increasing the estate tax, raising taxes on tobacco and adopting a carbon tax. Reproductive freedoms should be included with conditions just like the military does under TRICARE.

Rapid City @RegionalHealth solidifies its position as a medical industry monopoly in western South Dakota and NE Wyoming. https://t.co/ozcb8pZJbg

— interested party (@larry_kurtz) November 17, 2019