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Committee passes welfare fraud prevention amendments with privacy and caregiver exemptions
Summary
Sen. Biteman’s bill to strengthen eligibility verification, require SAVE checks, and improve reporting passed after hospitals and agencies negotiated amendments to delay reporting dates, deidentify hospital data, and exempt family caregivers from certain work requirements.
Senator Biteman presented Senate File 106 as an update to Wyoming’s Welfare Fraud Prevention Act to align state law with new federal requirements. He said the bill’s core goals are to verify applicant identity and lawful presence, prevent benefits for individuals not lawfully present, and improve reporting and transparency; the bill would codify verification through the federal SAVE system and add reporting requirements.
Agency witnesses (Corin Schmidt, Department of Family Services; Medicaid and Department of Health staff) told the committee they can comply with most provisions and that some verification systems identified in federal law are not yet available for monthly matching until later federal buildouts. Hospitals raised implementation and privacy concerns: Kelsey (Wyoming Hospital Association) and Eric Bully urged reducing reporting frequency from quarterly to annual, pushing effective dates to April 1, 2027 to allow IT and training time, making hospital submissions deidentified, and moving presumptive-eligibility reporting to the Department of Health. The sponsor accepted those changes as a compromise.
Public testimony ranged from groups urging stronger anti-fraud measures (Republican Women’s Legislative Action Committee) to AARP Wyoming asking for an explicit exemption for family caregivers (to avoid forcing caregivers into paid work that could result in institutionalization), and a Wyoming Community Foundation representative noting low current error and fraud rates for SNAP and Medicaid. In committee action, Representative Yen successfully added language exempting "family caregivers as defined in section two of the Raise Family Caregivers Act" from certain work requirements; the committee adopted the hospital association amendments on reporting timing, deidentification and focus on non–lawfully-present individuals, and then passed SF106 as amended on a roll-call vote.
The bill now moves from committee with negotiated amendments intended to balance verification goals, hospital privacy and operational capacity, and an explicit caregiver exemption in response to public testimony.
