Wyoming lawmakers reject Medicaid expansion effort
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming lawmakers have rejected the second effort to expand Medicaid in five days.
Republican state Rep. Pat Sweeney filed a bill Wednesday to amend the state constitution, but it did not receive two-thirds of the House and Senate vote, the Casper Star-Tribune reported Friday.
The House voted 40-16 against the proposal to expand Medicaid and include those making 138% of the federal poverty line, which is about $36,000 a year.
"What I don't want us to get into is what our neighboring three states had in 2018 - not that long ago," Sweeney said in reference to Idaho, Utah and Nebraska. "Ballot measures that they didn't control."
Sweeney argued that while the vote would have ended up in front of the voters, the legislators would have been able to control the language if it passed.
"Our voters sent us here to make these votes," Republican state Rep. Tyler Lindholm said. "That's it. And if they don't like our votes, then they'll find someone else to do it."
The bill's rejection follows the House vote to kill a separate bill that would have allowed Gov. Mark Gordon to study expansion and then decide whether to move forward with it, officials said.
