Governor's office optimistic on health reform

(Wyoming Public Radio)

By Bob Beck, Wyoming Public Radio (WPR), 12/23/2009

LARAMIE, WYO.  - The state of Wyoming is anxious to see the final version of health care overhaul legislation. But after looking at both bills, the Governor's health policy advisor believes that, for the most part, Wyoming residents will see improved care with the legislation. Wendy Curran says it stands to reason that if more people have health insurance, that will bring down costs. 

Meanwhile, the state is starting to think about what it can still do to reform health care at the local level. "We have seen some renewed interest in the health demonstration project legislation that got discussed last year," she said, "and a lot more interest in saying, we might want to look at the things we can do in this state with how we would like to insure populations. "

Curran says there will obviously be some impacts from the federal legislation to programs like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. So they are trying to prepare for that as well.