Summary#
SF-106, the Welfare Fraud Prevention Act Amendments, amends Wyoming’s public-welfare laws and creates new eligibility and verification rules. Its stated goal is welfare fraud prevention. It is enacted and is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2027.
- The Department of Family Services and Department of Health must verify eligibility and citizenship or eligible-alien status for several programs, and must report some cases to federal agencies or law enforcement.
- The bill sets SNAP certification periods of no more than four months for certain households and no more than six months for most other households; some households must receive one- or two-month periods.
- The Department of Health must make monthly checks for Medicaid recipients’ address changes and death records, and must submit enrollment information to a database used to identify enrollment in multiple states by October 1, 2029.
- Medicaid retroactive coverage for initial applicants is limited to services provided no more than two months before the application month.
- The Department of Family Services cannot seek, accept, or renew a SNAP work-requirement waiver without specific authorization in a state law. It cannot use the state option to exempt people from the work requirement, except for family caregivers.
- Hospitals that accept Medicaid must collect and report deidentified information about patients’ stated citizenship or lawful-presence status. The bill says collecting this information must not affect patient care.
What it means for you#
- SNAP households: The department must assign the certification periods described above, subject to federal law. A shorter period means a household may need to recertify sooner. The bill does not specify a recertification process.
- Medicaid applicants and recipients: Applicants generally cannot establish listed eligibility factors by self-attestation alone, except where federal law requires it. The department must check certain information, including address changes and death records, and must remove a recipient after confirming their death.
- People applying for Medicaid retroactive coverage: For an initial application, coverage cannot reach further back than two months before the application month. This limit does not apply to ongoing eligibility.
- Noncitizens applying for SNAP, Medicaid, or POWER: Eligibility is limited to specified categories of qualified or eligible aliens, subject to federal law. Applicants must have their status verified. For Medicaid, the bill allows one reasonable opportunity period to provide proof when available data cannot verify status; provisional coverage may be provided during that period. Missing the deadline can lead to denial or termination, with required notice.
- People found by a department to be unlawfully present: The departments must send information about them to appropriate law enforcement authorities, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, even if they are not applying for assistance.
- People in a SNAP household who are ineligible under a specified federal rule: Their entire income and financial resources must be counted when deciding the household’s eligibility and benefit amount.
- Hospitals that accept Medicaid: They must add a status question to patient admission or registration forms by April 1, 2027, tell patients the answer will not affect care, and report deidentified counts. The bill does not directly change who receives hospital care.
Money#
No cost information is in the available material.
- The bill requires agency checks, verification, reporting, and rulemaking, but gives no cost estimate or staffing figure.
- Hospitals must change forms and submit reports; no hospital cost estimate is provided.
- The Department of Health must report estimated fiscal impacts for some Medicaid checks and the retroactive-coverage limit. The bill does not state what those impacts will be.
What is unclear#
- The current text of the laws being amended was not supplied, so the exact changes to existing verification rules cannot be checked against current law.
- The bill does not spell out application steps, decision timelines, or appeal procedures for most of its new verification requirements.
- It does not define “unstable” household circumstances or explain how the department will decide a household is likely to become ineligible soon.
- It does not identify the national database for multistate Medicaid enrollment or explain how a possible address change will be confirmed before eligibility is changed.
- The bill requires hospital reporting and directs the department to make rules, but the supplied text does not clearly explain how the hospital reports will be collected and handled beyond the listed data.
Case for#
- More frequent checks and status verification could help identify incorrect or duplicate benefit enrollment.
- Monthly death-record checks and address-change reviews could help the state update Medicaid records sooner.
- The bill requires public reporting of some fraud and improper-payment figures, which could make enforcement results easier to track.
- Limiting retroactive Medicaid coverage could reduce payments for services received before an initial application, though the bill gives no estimate of the effect.
Case against#
- More frequent verification and shorter SNAP certification periods could mean more paperwork and earlier recertification for some households.
- The bill requires departments to report people they determine are unlawfully present to law enforcement, but the supplied text does not explain how mistakes in that determination would be addressed.
- A single Medicaid opportunity period and a limit on repeat periods could lead to denial or termination when someone cannot provide proof in time.
- The bill assigns new checking and reporting duties without stating their cost, staffing needs, or how they will be funded.