Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage-increase.

23LSO-0666
2023
State of Wyoming
23LSO-0666
Numbered
2.0

House JOINT RESOLUTION NO. HJ0012

Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage-increase.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Nicholas, Northrup, Olsen, Sommers and Stith and Senator(s) Baldwin and Case

A JOINT RESOLUTION

for

A JOINT RESOLUTION requesting Congress to increase Wyoming's Federal Medical Assistance Percentage.

WHEREAS, the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) is computed annually and used to calculate the federal share of Medicaid expenditures allocated to each state. The FMAP is based on a three (3) year average of state per capita personal income as compared to a three (3) year average of national per capita personal income; and

WHEREAS, in 2021 eleven and four-tenths percent (11.4%) of Wyoming's population lived below the poverty line and twenty-seven and four-tenths percent (27.4%) of Wyoming families earned less than one hundred ninety-nine percent (199%) of the poverty line; and

WHEREAS, the cost of medical care in Wyoming is the highest in the forty-eight (48) contiguous states and the cost of health insurance in Wyoming is one of the highest in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Wyoming is a frontier state composed of over seventy (70) communities of less than five thousand (5,000) residents and access to health care professionals is severely limited by distance and lack of qualified professional expertise; and

WHEREAS, Wyoming's senior population is the fastest growing segment of its population which will result in a significant increase in related health care services and costs for the state; and

WHEREAS, one northwestern county in Wyoming has a small population of very high income earners which disproportionately impacts the average state per capita personal income calculations by raising the state's per capita personal income by over five percent (5%); and

WHEREAS, the number of physicians in Wyoming over the past ten (10) years has been declining; and

WHEREAS, a majority of nursing home care providers in Wyoming are funded by Medicaid reimbursement rates and recent data demonstrates that the current reimbursement rates cover between sixty-five percent (65%) to seventy-two percent (72%) of actual nursing home costs putting seniors at a critical risk of losing nursing home care; and

WHEREAS, Wyoming is currently at the minimum FMAP rate of fifty percent (50%); and

WHEREAS, the surrounding states of Utah, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska have a higher FMAP rate than Wyoming which fiscally impacts health care providers operating adjacent to those states; and

WHEREAS, an increase in Wyoming's FMAP rate would enable an adequate and equitable reimbursement and funding of medical assistance to needy Medicaid recipients in the state.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING:

Section 1.

That the Wyoming Legislature requests that members of Wyoming's congressional delegation initiate action to increase the federal medical assistance percentage for Wyoming.

Section 2.

That the Wyoming Legislature requests that members of Wyoming's congressional delegation review alternatives and exceptions to current laws and regulations to allow for additional considerations in determining federal medical assistance percentage rates including the median income, health care related cost-of-living adjustments and rural health care needs.

Section 3.

That the Secretary of State of Wyoming transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress and to the Wyoming Congressional Delegation.

(END)

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HJ0012