“We’re excited to expand our coalition to include these organizations working on crucial issues to improve the lives of all Wyomingites,” said Ana Marchese, Healthy Wyoming director.
NAMI Wyoming (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and Grace for Two Brothers recently joined the Health Wyoming coalition. The Wyoming Association of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Centers (WAMHSAC) joined the coalition last year.
“NAMI WY is happy to join the Healthy Wyoming coalition in educating state lawmakers and convincing them to pass Medicaid expansion,” said Vicki Swenson, a NAMI WY board member.
NAMI WY strives to ensure the availability and accessibility of quality support for Wyoming citizens with mental illness.
“Medicaid expansion will greatly help NAMI WY and other mental health advocates address the needs of people who suffer from mental health issues,” Swenson added.
“We have seen the hugely positive impact Medicaid expansion has made in other states and look forward to the great gains Wyoming will make in addressing our mental health crisis.”
Grace for 2 Brothers supports Medicaid expansion in Wyoming because access to healthcare, including mental healthcare, will lessen barriers to care for underserved populations and for those in socioeconomic statuses that are uninsured or under-insured, said Jeremey Bay, Grace for 2 Brothers executive director.
Formed in 2010, Grace For 2 Brothers provides education, intervention, and resources to individuals who need mental health assistance and facilitates support to persons impacted by suicide in Wyoming.
“Mitigating costs can reduce stigma and increase overall population health throughout our state,” Bay said.
Article 4 of the Code of the West is “Do what needs to be done” and improving the overall health in the state is included in this, Bay explained.
“We MUST do what needs to be done to remove barriers to care, remove marginalization and stigmatization of populations that do not possess the financial means for even baseline insurance, and build capacity surrounding clinical mental health resources in Wyoming,” Bay said.
The Wyoming Association of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Centers provides advocacy and training for Wyoming’s premier treatment centers. These centers treat everyone regardless of their ability to pay- providing the backbone of Wyoming’s mental health system.
Wyoming is struggling with a mental health crisis.
Reducing suicide and addressing other mental health issues concerns many in Wyoming.
Wyoming has the highest suicide rate in the nation. Over 31.1 people per 100,000 take their own lives each year in Wyoming.1 That’s more than double the national average.
Mental Health America released its annual State of Mental Health in America report, which ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 15 mental health access and prevalence measures. Mental Health America is the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and promoting the overall mental health of all.
“This year, again, the evidence is clear regarding the urgent crisis we face in American mental health. From high numbers of our youth who are contemplating suicide, to an increase in substance use, to widespread difficulty in accessing the care they seek, Americans are experiencing high rates of distress and frequent challenges in getting help,” said Schroeder Stribling, president and CEO of Mental Health America, in an October 2022 press release.
State of mental health in Wyoming2
- 103K adult prevalence of any mental illness in Wyoming
- 26K adults in Wyoming with any mental illness who are uninsured
- 77K adults in Wyoming with a substance use disorder
- 26K adults in Wyoming with serious thoughts of suicide
- 8,000 Wyoming youth, age 12-17, with at least one major depressive episode in the past year
- 50.4% Wyoming youth with major depressive episodes who did not receive any mental health services
Medicaid expansion helps improve mental health.
Medicaid expansion would use the dollars Wyoming folks have paid in federal taxes to help address the state’s growing mental health crisis, reduce the costly burden on emergency rooms and provide healthcare to low-income and self-employed workers.
- 36% more people entered substance use disorder treatment by the fourth expansion year compared to non-expansion states.3
- Medicaid expansion is associated with reductions in suicide rates among women, men, people aged 30-44 years, non-Hispanic White individuals and people without a college degree.4
- 710,000 children who were eligible for health coverage gained coverage in expansion states from 2013 – 2015. Research shows that the expansion of Medicaid to more adults has a spillover effect where newly insured parents sign up their children upon learning about the options available.5
Medicaid expansion improved mental health services in Montana
A comparison between Montana and Wyoming illustrates the dramatic impact of Medicaid expansion on uncompensated care costs and serves as a useful guide for Wyoming. Montana implemented Medicaid expansion in 2016. In 2019, after three years of experience with expanded Medicaid, Montana’s Republican-led legislature reauthorized the program until 2025.
Medicaid expansion strengthened access to and provided critical funding to support and grow
Montana’s behavioral health system, according to a 2021 report by Montana Healthcare Foundation.6
- 90,000 low-income adults, who would otherwise not have had access to affordable health insurance, were covered by Montana Medicaid expansion.
- 34,000 expansion enrollees had a behavioral health diagnosis provided on a claim or received a behavioral health service by 2020.
- $54M in new federal dollars provided support to Montana’s behavioral health system. Funding was brought by increased access to and utilization of behavioral health services by expansion enrollees, combined with a nine-to-one federal spending match for payments.
- Between 2016 and 2020, resources for substance abuse disorder prevention and treatment increased in Montana by 70% and funding for substance abuse disorder prevention services DOUBLED.
CITATIONS
- (2022). The Wyoming Injury & Violence Prevention Program. Wyoming Department of Health. https://health.wyo.gov/publichealth/prevention/wivpp/suicide-prevention
- (2022). State of Mental Health in America: Ranking the States. Mental Health America. https://mhanational.org/issues/2023/ranking-states
- Saloner, B., & Maclean, J.C. (2020). Specialty substance use disorder treatment admissions steadily increased in the four years after medicaid expansion. Health Affairs, 39(3), 453-61. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32119615
- Austin, A.E., Naumann, R. B., & Short, N.A. (2021). Associations between medicaid expansion and suicide mortality among nonelderly US adults. American Journal of Epidemiology, 190(9), 1760-69. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34467410
- Hudson, J.L., & Asako, M. (2017). Medicaid expansion for adults had measurable “welcome mat” effects on their children. Health Affairs, 36(9), 1643-51. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28874493
- (2021). Medicaid in Montana: The critical role of Medicaid expansion in supporting Montana’s behavioral health system. Montana Healthcare Foundation. https://mthcf.org/resource/medicaid-in-montana-the-critical-role-of-medicaid-expansion-in-supporting-montanas-behavioral-health-system
Superb post however , I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this topic? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Thanks!
Thank you for writing this post. I like the subject too.