Current Wyoming insurance issues as of February 2010Wyoming insurance issues of affordability and availability are an interesting study in contradictions which most likely have been created by a traditional red state aversion to government solutions that are balanced for now by a good economy and a naturally healthy setting.
Wyoming is big, rugged country with ranches, cowboys, mountains, grizzlies, etc.. Except for some recent gentrification at Jackson Hole, you think of people here being rough and rugged. So I wouldn't imagine that this was a state with especially cushy health care benefits and I would imagine some not so pretty health statistics from the hard living. As expected, it is in the bottom ten of percentage of uninsured in the country ranking right above California. The contradiction here is that it is the 19th overall healthiest state in the country. It's ranks 2nd in air pollution which you would expect for God's country. It ranks #8 in violent crime which makes it a gentler state than I expected. It ranks 7th in child poverty which is very good but 48th in children's immunization coverage which is inexcusable. It also ranks 29th in smoking and binge drinking which you expect for hard-living cowboys. The economy in Wyoming has exploded recently and is evidenced by a 37.4 percent rise in median earnings from 2000 to 2007. However, Wyoming does not have a great ranking in occupational fatalities and you have to wonder if this contributes to why the total premiums have risen 141.5 percent over the same period. A rise like that could also be a contributing factor to their prevalence of drinking.
Do you have a different opinion of health coverage in this state?Health coverage policies and laws obviously can change. If your experience with getting health coverage is different than what is written above, or if you just want to share your experiences with health coverage, please feel free. |