By Katie Klingsporn, WyoFile.com

Though legislators convening in Cheyenne next week will primarily focus on passing a state budget, they will also consider bills that could help shape Wyoming’s health care landscape. 

Lawmakers will mull several measures critical to deploying more than $200 million in federal Rural Health Transformation Program money awarded to Wyoming for 2026. Other bills would increase Medicaid reimbursement for services like maternity care, birthing centers and EMS. In addition, the 93 members of the Wyoming Legislature will consider bills aimed at tightening criteria for social services, like SNAP food assistance.

Here’s a guide to some of the health care bills to watch. The legislative session begins Monday. 

Rural health 

In December, the Trump administration awarded Wyoming $205 million in federal Rural Health Transformation Program funds. The new program, created in the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill, will funnel $50 billion to states over five years to stabilize and strengthen rural hospitals and providers.

In its application, Wyoming proposed an array of initiatives to bolster health care access and shore up providers. These include everything from incentives for small rural hospitals to provide basic services and cut extraneous ones that can be performed at regional facilities; grants for clinical workforce training programs; a state-run insurance plan for catastrophic events; and permanent, investment-generated revenue to boost the industry.

Legislative action is necessary to lay the groundwork for several of them; Wyoming could leave up to $800 million on the table over the next five years if it doesn’t implement proposals outlined in its application. 

A major bill in that vein, Wyoming rural health transformation, will establish the perpetuity investment fund, create an advisory panel and launch programs for implementing many of the proposals. The perpetuity vehicle would allow the state to stretch the federal benefits into the future to meaningfully address some of Wyoming’s historically intractable health care challenges, such as hospital and EMS viability and workforce retention, according to the Wyoming Department of Health. 

The bill has not yet been filed; the Joint Appropriations Committee is expected to work it up during a meeting today.

Maternal care, Medicaid payments 

The state’s rural health application touched on the characteristics that make health challenges so knotty in Wyoming, where census-designated “frontier” areas comprise most of the state in terms of both area and population. The difficulties have led to growing gaps in services like OB care. Five hospitals have shut down birthing facilities in recent years, for example, and in-state births are declining.

To address that pinch, Gov. Mark Gordon included a $17.5 million increase to Medicaid reimbursement rates for labor and delivery services in his proposed budget. The appropriations committee, however, eliminated that among many other line items when it completed its first mark-up of the budget. 

A legislative remedy has been proposed. House Bill 64, “Enhanced Medicaid reimbursement rate-maternal services,” would authorize the health department to apply for enhanced Medicaid reimbursement for eligible providers of maternal services. Eight individual lawmakers co-sponsored the bill. 

It’s not the only measure that would up the Medicaid reimbursement rate — a maneuver that supporters say increases health care access by raising the amount the state pays to providers for services to Medicaid beneficiaries. 

House Bill 4, “Birthing centers-Medicaid coverage,” would authorize freestanding birth centers to be covered by Medicaid for births handled by midwives. Senate File 4, “Medicaid rate increase-EMS services,” meanwhile, would provide for increased reimbursement for emergency medical services. The latter addresses another service area that faces tremendous financial feasibility challenges. 

Stricter social security 

Other bills dovetail with Rural Health Transformation Program goals. The federal program strongly encourages states to adopt Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program waivers, for example. House Bill 7, “SNAP benefits-waiver request,” is Wyoming’s version of that. The bill would result in new restrictions on the items SNAP recipients can purchase — prohibiting products such as soda, chips and certain condiments. 

Wyoming Department of Family Services officials have warned the legislation could impose a hefty administrative burden on the state government.  

The SNAP measure is not the only proposal that could enhance obstacles to aid. Senate File 6, “Eligibility for Medicaid-criteria,” codifies state criteria for Medicaid eligibility. It inserts language regarding residency requirements and health and income qualifications. 

Abortion 

When the Wyoming Supreme Court in January struck down the state’s two abortion bans, Gov. Gordon urged lawmakers to draft a constitutional amendment.

The voters of Wyoming should settle the matter once and for all, Gordon said in a statement. “A constitutional amendment taken to the people of Wyoming would trump any and all judicial decisions.”

Lawmakers started immediately to draft a measure, Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, told WyoFile. A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to appear on the ballot in the following general election. 

Another bill has been couched by its sponsor as a response to the maternity care crisis, though critics say it’s a poorly disguised attempt to limit abortions. House Bill 3, “Wyoming pregnancy centers-autonomy and rights,” would set rules and regulations aimed at protecting pregnancy centers, facilities that are typically intended to discourage women from seeking abortions.

The bill would prohibit the state or any municipality from compelling a pregnancy center to perform abortions, provide abortion medication or counsel in favor of abortion, among other acts. Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, who chairs the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and was lead sponsor on one of the abortion bans the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional, sponsored House Bill 3.