WYOMING REJECTS TX PAYMENTS

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Feb. 2004

Wyoming Rejects Bill to Expand Medicaid Coverage of Transplants

A bill that would expand Medicaid coverage in Wyoming to cover the cost of kidney and liver transplants for adults has been disapproved by a state Senate's Appropriations Committee.

Despite testimony that expanding Medicaid to cover transplants would mean a lot to a small group of people in the prime of their lives, the panel recommended that the House bill not pass when it reaches the Senate floor.

While the bill estimated that the state would only have to cover two transplants a year for people aged 18 to 64 at a cost of less than $230,000, Wyoming Department of Health Medicaid agent Iris Oleske said if a much larger number of people came forward, the state would have to find a way to pay for it.

The bill would only cover bone marrow, kidney and liver transplants, which Oleske described as the most common and cost-effective.