LSO presents bill draft for 'Wyoming limited and catastrophic medical coverage pool'; members question legal and governance risks

Anna Johnson, LSO staff attorney, presented bill draft 27 LSO 144 titled "Wyoming Limited and Catastrophic Medical Coverage Pool" to illustrate how the state could structure a limited catastrophic coverage program. She explained the draft draws some structure from the Wyoming Health Insurance Pool Act but deliberately leaves placeholders for policy choices such as premium methodology (flat fee vs sliding scale), administration (board/commission vs Department of Health or Department of Insurance), membership eligibility and whether the entity should be a nonprofit or a statutorily created commission. "This bill draft is entitled 27 LSO 144 Wyoming limited and catastrophic medical coverage pool," she told the task force.