Lawmakers look to cut health programs for most vulnerable

CHEYENNE – The House and Senate each rejected measures Wednesday aimed at reversing proposed cuts to an infant-mother program that tries to reduce future health care costs.

Despite its name, the majority of the $405,000 Adolescent Health Program is used for mothers, expectant mothers and their babies. Public health nurses visit women and their children to ensure they have proper care. About $60,000 of the program’s costs go to helping adolescents obtain birth control, said Pete Obermueller of the Wyoming County Commissioners Association.

Counties, Obermueller said, also kick money into the program. Cutting the funding could lead to layoffs and high health care costs for counties, he added.

But the budget bill before the lawmakers eliminated the program from the Wyoming Department of Health’s budget, said Sen. Tara Nethercott, a Cheyenne Republican who sponsored a budget amendment that would have required the department to find the funds to keep it going.

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