CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Wyoming’s Senate defeated a bill Friday to expand the federal Medicaid program – apparently killing any chance the state will find a way this year to extend health insurance to thousands of low-income adults.
Medicaid expansion is a key element of the federal Affordable Care Act and has come under fire for years from Republicans in Congress. The state Senate voted 19-11 against the bill.
Gov. Matt Mead, a Republican, opposed expansion in Wyoming for most of his first term. But this year he urged lawmakers to approve an expansion bill, saying Wyoming can no longer afford to forego federal funds.
Washington pledges to cover 100 percent of expansion costs through 2016, dropping to 90 percent after that.
The bill’s main sponsor, Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette, said expansion would provide health care coverage to 17,600 people in Wyoming, bring more than $100 million a year in new federal funds and create about 800 jobs.