With the legislative budget session just a few weeks away, Ivinson Memorial Hospital CEO Doug Faus sat down to discuss what Medicaid expansion would mean for Wyoming.

Faus says between 800 and 900 people in Albany County alone would stand to gain health insurance under the proposed expansion.  According to HealthyWyoming.org, about 20,000 Wyomingites stand to gain coverage if the expansion is passed.

Governor Matt Mead included Medicaid expansion in his budget proposal to the state legislature as a means of balancing the budget.  According to a policy brief assembled by the Wyoming Department of Health, the expansion would mean a $11.4 million savings for the state government.

Faus says he hopes that state legislators can separate the issue of Medicaid expansion in Wyoming from political figures and rivalries on the national stage.

"I happen to believe that this would be the right thing for Wyoming residents," says Faus.  "I think it just would be the ethical thing to do."

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