Root Causes is a policy analysis series by the Natrona Collective Health Trust, grounded in rigorous, nonpartisan research. Each installment examines the systems, data, and decisions that shape the health and well-being of Natrona County residents by going beyond the headlines to understand why things are the way they are, and what it means for the people who live here. We believe an informed community is a healthier one. If you have a topic suggestion or question, reach out to Rachel Bouzis, Director of Policy & Learning.
In Washakie County lives a lifelong Wyoming resident who describes herself as “just getting by” financially. A Republican who voted for Trump in 2024, she has a high school diploma. Though she has three jobs, she still has to purchase her health insurance on the public marketplace. Her monthly premiums eat up an entire paycheck at $700 yet her deductible is $8,000, and she struggles to afford her prescriptions. Despite all of this, she makes too much to qualify for government assistance. “It’s really hard for middle class people,” she said. “There’s just no help for people who make enough to survive barely. But I would benefit better if I quit my other two jobs. But I have to work three jobs. To just survive… It’s just broken. The system is broken.”
This woman was one of 545 registered voters surveyed in February of this year to learn how Wyoming voters feel about health and healthcare in our state. The Health Trust commissioned Denver-based polling firm New Bridge Strategies to conduct this study. Our goal was to provide lawmakers with information to develop and enact policies that will improve the health and wellbeing of Natrona County and Wyoming residents. The survey drew on a statistically valid sample with an error margin of plus or minus 4.4%.
Some of the findings are encouraging. Nearly two in three voters say the current healthcare system is meeting their needs. Even more promising, 80% of voters are satisfied with the quality of care they receive, and nearly half of those are very satisfied. Sixty-five percent of voters are satisfied with the distance they travel to see a doctor, and 63% are satisfied with the amount of time they wait to see a doctor after making an appointment. According to a female voter in Carbon County, age 18–24, “I have never left the doctor without an answer. My concerns are always validated, and often an answer is found. The care in Wyoming is always quick, and healthcare professionals are very knowledgeable.”
Unsurprisingly, favorability breaks down when it comes to the price tag. A whopping 81% of voters consider the cost of healthcare an extremely or very serious problem. In fact, voters selected this as their top concern among a list of issues in the state. Concerned and frustrated were the top two of three words to describe the healthcare system. As a male voter in Natrona County said, “It’s too expensive, and it’s not clear what the cost is going to be. Well, you go in to get some stitches, and they take pictures and then they are like, oh, we need a CAT scan, and then you get labs, and something that could have cost $70 to a $100 and ends up costing $7,000.” That is frustrating.
Percent saying each is an extremely or very serious problem for residents of Wyoming. Full sample N=545; some items asked of half-samples.
The list of concerns for Wyoming voters is long. Suicide remains a pervasive problem. Overall, two in five voters say their own mental health has suffered strain in the past year, with 60% of mothers experiencing these struggles. Meanwhile, 74% of voters cite the rising cost of living as a very or extremely serious problem, and 67% say the same of the cost of housing. Given all of this, maybe it’s not all that surprising, then, that 56% of parents and grandparents worry their grandchildren won’t be able to live in Wyoming in the future.
There’s another finding that merits a closer look: 63% of voters say the health care system is meeting their own needs, but nearly as many doubt that it’s meeting the needs of other Wyoming families. So while we have some unique Wyoming challenges, we also have a uniquely Wyoming spirit of caring for one another. We worry about our neighbors who are struggling.
At the Natrona Collective Health Trust, our mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of the residents of Natrona County. Health is not partisan, nor is the Trust a political organization. We are, however, a civic organization, for one simple reason: voting impacts your health. An informed, engaged electorate is ultimately a healthier community. And history proves it.
On Nov. 19, 1921, former Montana legislator Jeannette Rankin watched from the House Gallery as the bill she originally introduced in 1918 passed by a vote of 279 to 39.1 What followed was a bacteriological revolution that prevented 20,000 child deaths each year, representing a 10% reduction in child mortality from 1900 to 1930.2
This new age of handwashing, meat refrigeration, water boiling, and other practices we know today as basic hygiene, was ushered in by two pieces of landmark legislation. Rankin’s bill, the Sheppard-Towner Act of 1921 was the first federally funded social welfare program, though it was ultimately named for two male legislators. It appropriated an unprecedented $1 million per year for five years to public health organizations responsible for educating the public on these new breakthroughs, mostly through door-to-door campaigning.3
The other was the 19th Amendment, which granted white women the right to vote across the United States. Ratified just a year prior in 1920, the Sheppard-Towner Act likely would never have been realized without it. Suddenly, politicians were accountable to an entirely new voting bloc, one that prioritized the health and safety of children in a way that elected officials didn’t believe men did. One senator said of the bill, “‘If the members of Congress could have voted on the measure in their cloak rooms, it would have been killed as emphatically as it was finally passed out in the open.'”4
Despite its remarkable success, Congress let the Sheppard-Towner Act sunset in 1929. The American Medical Association had lobbied strongly against the bill since it was introduced, calling it bolshevism. Another possibility, though, is that their opposition was based on fear of financial loss due to lower patient volume, access to free clinics, and the threat of regulating the cost of services.5
Our neighbor in Washakie County deserves better. You deserve better. Voter turnout matters. Vote August 18.
Explore the Voter Health Survey Findings
