Advocacy and You - 

2022 Wyoming Legislative Interim session:

2022 Wyoming State Legislative session - 

Wyoming NASW Medicaid expansion is an issue that social workers across the state support; and we support this to improve the lives and health of our clients, our neighbors and our communities.

Healthy Wyoming has taken the lead on trying to get Medicaid Expansion legislation passed and they are asking for the help of social workers and social work business owners.  They have organized petitions to let our state legislators know that you support this legislation and that it needs to be passed now. 

For information on the benefits of expanding Medicaid (including information from the other 38 states that have passed it), I have attached information to this email and encourage you to go to Healthy Wyoming’s website at  Healthy Wyoming.org or Healthy Wyoming's Facebook page.  It also includes the link to your state legislators if you want to contact them directly.

NASW is working hard at the Federal level to make positive changes for the social work profession and to enhance social well-being for all. Visit the NASW Advocacy website to learn more about what they are working on and how you can help! 

Past Success! 

Do you Remember House Bill 0211

House Bill 0211: Mental Health and Substance Use Coverage Parity is a bill NASW-WY supported in the 2019 Legislative Session and it passed! 

It created a state level law that gives the Wyoming Insurance Commissioner the authority to enforce the 2008 Federal Law ensuring that health insurance policies that have mental health and substance use treatment coverage- that this coverage is equal to the coverage for medical/surgical coverage in the same policy. For example, co-pays for mental health office visits cannot be higher than co-pays for an office visit with a primary care physician. Rules for in-network and out-of-network providers cannot be different for mental health coverage than for medical coverage. This is a step in the right direction to improving access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment in Wyoming.

Contacting your legislators does have an impact!  Thank you to everyone who contacted their legislators and to the sponsors of this bill! Dr. Hollis Hackman on the far right of the photo lobbied for this bill and gave NASW direction on how our association could help to help get it passed. The photo is Governor Mark Gordon seated to sign the bill into law. From left to right: Rep. Clarence Styvar, Senator Mike Gierau, Sen. Lissa Anselmi-Dalton, Sen. Fred Baldwin, Rep. Joann Dayton-Selman, Sen. Stephan Pappas, Rhianna Brand, Grace for 2 Brothers, Dr. Chen, CRMC, Veronica Pedersen, NASW-WY, Dr. Hollis Hackman, APA and AFSP.