Changes continue in the insurance industry as noted in the North Lincoln Hospital District Board of Directors meeting in October.

As reported to the board, several insurance companies are opting to leave or reduce coverage in Wyoming.

The board also learned that United Healthcare will no longer offer a Medicare Advantage plan in Lincoln County in 2026 and Mountain States Co-op is leaving Wyoming’s individual health insurance marketplace/exchange at the end of 2025.

“The whole healthcare ecosystem is at a tipping point” says Dan Ordyna, CEO of Star Valley Health.  “With the recent Medicaid cuts and the enhanced premium tax credits to support Marketplace health insurance enrollment potentially not being extended, everybody that touches healthcare is gravely concerned.  Insurance companies have no choice but to demand double digit increases to employers, employers are having to pass those increases on to employees, and the cycle continues.  At some point it has to break.”

Ordyna said Star Valley Health continues to work with insurance companies to find ways to offer affordable access to healthcare to western Wyoming residents, but it knows that it can do only so much as the entire country wrestles with the dilemma of affordable healthcare.