Plamer, Cartwright: Thanks to the ACA | Columns | trib.com – Casper Star-Tribune

This week marks the 12th anniversary of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, landmark legislation that Wyoming’s residents have benefited from in many important ways. Better known by its shorter name, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the law includes concrete programs that help Wyoming citizens and the healthcare system that serves them.

Thanks to the ACA, people in Wyoming and around the country have been able to purchase affordable health insurance and not be blocked by a “preexisting condition.” Before the ACA, folks suffering from cancer, diabetes, asthma or another debilitating disease could be denied health coverage simply because they needed healthcare.

Imagine a person living with diabetes changing jobs and reapplying for health insurance, only to be denied because of their illness. Before the ACA, this person would be burdened by outrageous costs, or they could try to live without the cost of care and face a disease that’s treatable yet deadly. Nearly 40,000 people in Wyoming have diabetes, not including the estimated 12,000 more who do not yet know about their diabetes.

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The ACA has been a boon for parents and students. Pre-ACA, when a young person turned 21, they were bounced off their parent’s insurance. Now students can stay on their folks’ insurance until 26, giving them time to get through school and into the job market.

Older adults also have benefited, gaining better access to affordable care, free preventative care, and savings on prescription drugs. Senior citizens are better served getting counseling and information to help them make long-term care decisions at Aging and Disability Resource Centers.

A cornerstone of the ACA helps people whose employer doesn’t offer a health insurance benefit or those who can’t afford it. This year alone, 34,762 Wyomingites and their families have purchased individual plans on the marketplace, many with federal subsidies. Wyoming has some of the highest insurance and healthcare rates in the country. Sometimes, a federal subsidy is all it takes to get them a good insurance plan and the access they need to stay healthy and productive.

While the ACA has accomplished many of its objectives and improved healthcare access for millions nationwide, 24,000 of our Wyoming neighbors are left behind simply because Wyoming has chosen to ignore one critical element of the ACA: the expansion of Medicaid. These folks cannot purchase insurance through their employer and do not have enough income to buy insurance independently. Without insurance, they can’t find a doctor for themselves or their family. Then when an untreated illness worsens or injury strikes, they end up in the emergency room.

When people end up in the emergency room for primary care, they increase emergency room wait times and uncompensated care costs, which hospitals bear when people get service but can’t afford to pay. Each year Wyoming hospitals incur $100 million in uncompensated care and then pass those costs to every household in Wyoming in higher insurance premiums and increased prices at hospitals. If more people in Wyoming had health insurance, and Medicaid is health insurance, healthcare costs and the longer-term impacts of decreased productivity and longevity would be improved.

It has been ten years since the U.S. Supreme Court removed the requirement that states had to expand Medicaid, leaving it up to state lawmakers. Sadly, advocates working on behalf of our neighbors who lack healthcare access have failed to convince legislators and the current governor that expansion makes sense for Wyoming.

The citizens of the 38 states who have expanded Medicaid reap the benefits of a healthier population, more jobs and a more stable healthcare system. Wyoming residents, on the other hand, continue to send them our tax dollars, getting nothing in return.

The ACA is here to stay. It has been in court, and it has been on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and statehouses across the land. It would be a gift if all Wyoming residents could enjoy the advantages and peace of mind that access to healthcare brings.

Bruce Palmer and Jan Cartwright are the directors of Healthy Wyoming, a coalition of state and national organizations who support expanding Medicaid.

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