Governor Freudenthal Says Healthy Frontiers Ready to Enroll Participants; Discusses Wolves and Grand Teton National Park School Trust Land

Press Conference

Governor Dave Freudenthal announced today that he signed the Plan of Operation for Healthy Frontiers, a state pilot project which aims to provide basic health care to qualified participants while containing costs. He also discussed wolf management and the Grand Teton National Park school trust land exchange at his regularly-scheduled news conference.

By signing off on the Healthy Frontiers plan, people who are employed but not insured can now begin to enroll in the health care pilot program.

Text of audio clip: "We're talking here about a population who is employed for at least 20 hours. And obviously you want to qualify for that. One of the ways you can do that is through this Job Assist program that's over at the Department of Workforce Services. Because the idea is that -- it's that old Ben Franklin thing that you help those who help themselves. These are people who are trying to make steps up and we're trying to reduce their burden -- the burden of doing that."
Audio clip attached: "Nov 30 2010 Gov Healthy Frontiers begins final" :26 sec.
The participation requirements include: working at least 20 hours a week, being uninsured and having an income at 200% or below the federal poverty level.

The goal of Healthy Frontiers is to control costs by keeping people healthy.

Text of audio clip: "You know, you end up with people on Medicaid and they don't have to work to be on Medicaid. If you're going to be in this program (Healthy Frontiers) you're going to have to work and you're going to have to make some contribution in terms of co-share in some of your medical participation. But what we've got is a system that encourages people who can't provide insurance -- the best thing for them to do is to not work and end up on Medicaid. And that makes no sense."

Audio clip attached: "Nov 30 2010 Gov reduce costs with HFs final" :23 sec.

Gov. Freudenthal said Blue Cross/Blue Shield will be the administrator of Healthy Frontiers, which was created and funded by the Wyoming Legislature. Healthy Frontiers was not intended to serve as full-coverage health insurance, rather it is an effort to move people away from public assistance while still providing quality care and controlling costs.

Also discussed at the press conference was the issue of wolf management, ongoing litigation over wolves and Gov. Freudenthal's meeting with U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and Wyoming Governor-elect Matt Mead.

Text of audio clip: "I really would rather settle this but I won't settle it on terms that ask Wyoming to compromise on the basic nature of its plan. Because if we can't have a delisting program in Wyoming that works to the benefit of Wyoming as well as achieves the federal objective, then the let the Feds manage. I'm not saying get rid of the wolves. I accept the fact that wolves are going to be in Wyoming. I think that they need to be in the Northwest, which is where the habitat is. But if we're going to manage them -- that being the State -- we need to be able to manage them in a way that achieves the federal objective but is also useful to us, otherwise we should simply let the feds manage it, and that's really the nub of this. It isn't that we're advocating that wolves be removed from Wyoming. I mean, obviously the Legislature's done a lot to pass legislation to accommodate how do we live with wolves in Wyoming."

Audio clip attached: "Nov 30 2010 Gov wolf meeting final" :49 sec.

Gov. Freudenthal said there is a path forward if the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service can make inroads for Wyoming on the issues of dual status and boundaries.

The Governor said that during his meeting with officials from the Interior Department there was not a conversation about possible deal to sell Wyoming's school trust land in Grand Teton National Park. However, Gov. Freudenthal said a draft proposal for the sale continues to move forward.

Text of audio clip: "Where that's at now is that our lawyers and the Solicitor's Office are exchanging drafts of a statement of principle that outlines it and here's where part of the issues come is that, clearly they don't have $107 million in today's budget environment to give us today. So what we're doing is structuring the sale out over a period of years and we're saying, look, "You need to buy it a parcel at a time. We won't sell you…we won't let you high-grade the property. You've got to buy a chunk at a time.' And it really breaks out into Antelope Flats, the Kelly section and then some of those other, smaller parcels. And so you set up an order in which they buy them one at a time when money's available and if they don't act within -- I think we wanted to say, have the full transaction done within 10 years and they wanted a little longer -- they're still negotiating that. But if it doesn't get done and it falls apart then the State has the right to sell the land otherwise."

Audio clip attached: "Nov 30 2010 Gov GTNP status final" :56 sec.

Gov. Freudenthal said he hopes the agreement will be ready for the State Land Board to consider at its December meeting but added that he is quite prepared for negotiations to continue into the next Administration if an agreement cannot be reached before the end of his term. The 2011 Wyoming Legislature must approve the sale.

Source