More Wyoming Families Jump onto Sinking Ship

Fewer people are in the Wyoming SCHIP program, which provides insurance for children. But the children, along with their parents, may have gone to Medicaid, say state officials, who note that Medicaid enrollment is up as parents lose their jobs. (This, of course, points again to the folly of tying health insurance to employment.)

Medicaid’s finances are buoyed by federal stimulus funds, which are temporary.

By the way, you’ve heard that we need to bring more people into Medicaid so that we reduce expensive trips to the emergency room? According to the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, “In 2009, 46 percent of children and 60 percent of eligible adults had an “outpatient claim … which means they used a hospital emergency room.”

We need reform, to make insurance portable, personal, and affordable–and more importantly, to make health care itself more affordable. Simply adding to existing programs is not sustainable.

U.S. Index of Health Ownership 2nd Edition Is Here

Pacific Research Institute has published the 2nd edition of the U.S. Index of Health Ownership, the only ranking of health care in the states that uses criteria of individual choice.

Americans lack the basic freedom to make their own health care decisions. The Index measures the degree to which individuals, be they patients, health professionals, entrepreneurs, or taxpayers, “own” the health care in their states.

The lack of health ownership is a real problem. Almost half of the country’s health care spending is in the hands of the government, instead of patients themselves. The other half is governed by regulations inflicted upon doctors, health plans and patients.

The Index uses 24 variables to quantify how state laws and regulations affect the liberty of citizens involved in state government health plans (primarily Medicaid), the private health-insurance market, and the provision of medical services. It also assesses the effect of medical tort on people’s freedom to engage health services.

Alabama, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and New Hampshire finished in the top five, as the states that allow their citizens the highest degree of health ownership. Alabama leads the pack primarily because of a lightly regulated private insurance market, and good control of state government programs. Also, the state performs well on medical tort indicators. Alabama’s regulatory environment for providers favors competition, and government health programs run more effectively than in most states.

New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and North Carolina rounded out the bottom five, as the states in which the government has taken the most undue control of health care from its citizens. This is the second year that New York was in last place. The state suffers from government health-care programs that are out of control, a grossly overregulated private-insurance market, and almost completely uncompetitive provider markets.

A full listing of all 50 states and their rankings is contained in the Index.

The Index will give concerned citizens a good basis to demand reforms from their state politicians that will put American families in charge of American health care, instead of government and special interests.

Hodgepodge of Proposals in Wyoming

The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle offers up a few ideas on health care reform.

One possibility: "allow Wyoming employers to shop for insurance providers out of state, said Sven Larson from the Wyoming Liberty Group. Nationwide competition would decrease the cost of policies to make care more affordable for Wyoming's families." And I'd add "Wyoming families."

Then there's this: "Sen. Rick Hunnicutt, R-Cheyenne, said another solution could be to reimburse general physicians at a higher rate than specialists. The switch would allow the family doctor to spend more time with each patient instead of running them through a health-care assembly line to keep the doors open."

I'm not quite sure what to make of this last idea, other than at this point more fundamental changes are needed so that health care financing decisions become decentralized.

For more on Wyoming, see the Wyoming Liberty Group.

Wyoming Debates, Votes No on Insurance Proposal

The Wyoming House debated and came within one vote of passing a bill to start a pilot program to fund individual insurance plans, with medical homes, for 500 people.

Opponents cited, among other concerns, where the money for the program would come from after the first year ended.

A fiscal note for the bill, SF 24, said "The bill does provide that participants will pay premiums for a high deductible insurance plan on a sliding scale based upon income and participants will also contribute to a personal health account."

Medicaid for All? Let’s Hope Not

The Casper Star-Tribune surveys various interest groups in Wyoming to get some perspectives in the state on health care policy. The results are not pleasant.

Consider this statement from Brent Sherard, head of the Wyoming Department of Health:

Sherard said the federal government needs to find "some sort of hybrid" between a universal health care system and the private insurance sector. People start dragging their feet when they hear "universal health care," but Sherard said Medicare and Medicaid are examples of universal coverage.

Medicare and Medicaid are examples of universal coverage? Hmm. Let's look earlier in the article:

"Physician groups in the state have looked at opting out of Medicare and Medicaid because of low reimbursement rates."

You may not be able to find a doctor, but hey, we've got universal coverage!

Midwives in Wyoming

Taxpayer-Funded Insurance for Wyoming Legislators?

Wyoming doesn't have what you'd call a full-time legislature. During this year, for example, its regularly scheduled session was three weeks.

Even so, at least one legislator thinks that members of the state's House and Senate merit $23,000 worth of health insurance each year.

The legislator, Rep. David Zwonitzer "said lawmakers would like to establish health insurance for everyone in the state, especially those who have a dire need for it."

Who knew that legislators were so needy?

Practice Moderation–Moderately!

When governments use dedicated taxes to fund programs, some strange incentives can develop. Here's a case in point: An advisory group in Wyoming wants to promote efforts against underaged drinking.

How does it propose to fund that effort? By increasing the tax on beer. In other words, the funding of anti-alcohol efforts would depend on a steady stream of people … drinking.

As an alternative, how about lowering the drinking age?

Wyoming Candidate: Abolish Private Insurance

A candidate for office in Wyoming says he isn't for socialized medicine, but he wants to get rid of insurance companies, and thinks that profit in health care is a bad thing. So how is this not socialism, with its attendant ills?

Jason Wright, a candidate for a state senate seat, is correct on this: emergency room care is available to everyone, free of charge, and it is expensive. But he underestimates the costs of government-run insurance.

Other than that, Mr. Wright has some good ideas on health care financing.

The Wyoming Health Care Commission

Legislation that affects your life often starts out in the committee rooms of unelected advisory committees. That means that if you live in Wyoming, you might want to look at what the Wyoming Health Care Commission is doing.