HELPFUL TIPS FOR WRITING YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATOR
IMPORTANT:
- You’ll write your message in the text box on Step 2, where it says “Personalize your message.”
- Your message will be delivered to your local representative in the Wyoming House.
- Don’t click the “Send message” button until you write your message.
- REMEMBER TO DELETE THE TEXT THAT SAYS “[DELETE THIS TEXT AND INSERT YOUR MESSAGE HERE]”
YOUR MESSAGE SHOULD HAVE THREE SHORT PARTS:
1. Say who you are.
Make sure to tell them you’re a voter in their district.
2. Say what you want.
I’m writing today to ask you to vote “Yes” to on House Bill 20, Medical Treatment Opportunity Act, to ensure that it’s introduced for consideration during the 2022 budget session.
OR
I’m writing you today to ask that you support Medicaid expansion during the 2022 legislative session.
3. Say why you want it.
[This is where you can add a sentence or two about why expanding Medicaid and healthcare access in general is important to you.]
PRO TIPS
Change the message subject: This will let them know your email is not spam.
Keep it brief: Lawmakers receive lots of emails. If you write them a novel, they’re not going to read it.
TALKING POINTS
A personal, values-based message is best. But maybe mention a few of these things:
- Expanding Medicaid would provide basic health insurance for 24,000 uninsured Wyomingites who currently lack any realistic access to affordable healthcare. Watch this video about surviving cancer without insurance in Wyoming
- Wyoming’s healthcare costs and insurance premiums are among the highest in the nation, in large part because our hospitals incur $100 million each year in “uncompensated care costs” from treating patients who lack insurance and cannot afford to pay. Hospitals pass these costs on to the rest of us.
- Medicaid expansion is popular in Wyoming. According to a recent poll by the American Cancer Society, more than two-thirds of Wyoming voters across party lines said they want the Legislature to expand Medicaid.
- The American Rescue Plan, the COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress, includes additional funding for states that update their Medicaid programs. Wyoming would receive enough federal funds to extend Medicaid coverage to low-income residents without any additional spending by the state for two years, plus an additional $34 million that could help our budget.
- States that have already updated their Medicaid programs have seen economic improvements.
- The people would qualify for coverage are mostly low-income workers—for instance, a single parent working full time for $12 an hour.
- Roughly 6,000 people in Wyoming have lost their job-based insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The hundreds of millions in federal relief funding would dramatically help Wyoming’s budget crisis.
- Extending Medicaid to low-income residents would create healthcare jobs, decrease premiums in the state, and help create a healthier Wyoming.
