GILLETTE (WNE) — Wyoming ranks 45th out of the 50 states for highest uninsured rates for its residents.
The finding comes in a WalletHub study last week in which the Cowboy State’s uninsured health care rate is among the worst in the nation, according to the results in the poll.
All 50 states have seen the rate of uninsured decrease from 2010 to 2017, according to the poll. Wyoming’s rate overall shrank by 2.67 percent.

Unfortunately, that’s one of the lowest decreases among states, according to the poll. The issue of the number of uninsured residents in Wyoming was raised in a voters' forum Oct. 8 in Gillette between candidates for governor. The League of Women Voters sponsored that forum.
Wyoming’s rate of 9.5 percent uninsured children ranks 48th out of the 50 states; it’s rate of 13.19 uninsured adults ranks 44th; and the 10.30 percent of uninsured white adults is 49th.
Wyoming is among 17 states in the U.S. who have not expanded Medicaid in the past eight years. On average, the rate of uninsured residents in each of those states is 10.74 percent, the poll found.
Among those states, Wyoming 13th worst at 12.3 percent overall. Texas is the worst at 17.3 percent and also ranks 50th for the worst unnsured rates in the nation, according to WalletHub.
In contrast, every western state surrounding Wyoming has better uninsured rates. Colorado ranks 22nd, Nebraska, 28th; Montana, 30th; South Dakota, 33rd; Utah, 36th; and Idaho, 40th.
The bottom five states after Wyoming are Texas, 50th; Oklahoma, 49th; Alaska, 48th; Georgia, 47th; and Florida, 46th.