U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) looks on while he walks to a Senate GOP lunch as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
Wyoming is among the reddest states in the Mountain West. Donald Trump carried Wyoming by roughly 46 percent in the 2024 presidential election, and the last Democratic president who won Wyoming was Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
But Wyoming, like many other red states, is heavily reliant on safety-net programs that Democrats champion — including Medicaid. And according to a newly released study organized by The Natrona Collective Health Trust and conducted by Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI), the steep Medicaid cuts in Trump's "big, beautiful bill" are going to have severe effects in the deeply Republican state.
The study found that Wyoming's economy could shrink by $140 million over five years.
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WyoFile reporter Katie Klingsporn notes, "The intent was to compare the effects of the newly enacted federal cuts with the potential economic gains Wyoming could enjoy under a different scenario: Medicaid expansion. The Health Trust released the study on the heels of the bill’s narrow passage into law — which makes the prognostications related to cuts even more relevant."
According to Dr. Peter Evangelakis, senior vice president of economics and consulting at REMI, "The impacts here start in the health care sector, but they really spread throughout the entire economy, in terms of across different industries."
Klingsporn notes, "Those impacts include an estimated loss of 192 jobs per year — with just over half of those in health care, followed by construction, retail and government. The state's gross domestic product will shrink by $27.8 million per year, the report finds, and residents will have $14.6 million less annually in disposable personal income. The hardest-hit regions will be the ones home to Wyoming's two largest towns: Casper and Cheyenne."
Klingsporn adds, "The study offers a look into the broader economic consequences of a policy many advocates say will have detrimental impacts on Wyoming's health care landscape. At least 12,000 Wyoming residents are projected to lose health coverage under the law, health-care advocates say."
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Wyoming Republicans who voted in favor of Trump's "big, beautiful bill" include Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Harriet Hageman, who occupies the seat once held by former Rep. Liz Cheney. A scathing critic of Trump and key player on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-California) January 6 Select Committee, Cheney was voted out of office when the ultra-MAGA Hageman — a Trump loyalist — defeated her in a GOP primary.
Klingsporn reports, "Where the cuts will lead to a shrinking state economy, the study found, expanding Medicaid in Wyoming would do the reverse. Expanding enrollment could lead to 440 new jobs over five years and a $60.9 million yearly increase in GDP, the study found. That includes a $41.5 million increase in disposable personal income per year, which breaks down to about $160 per family."
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Read the full WyoFile article at this link.