Wyoming sets new verification rules for public assistance programs

State agencies must check more information when people apply for or renew public benefits, including income, immigration status, deaths, employment, housing aid, and incarceration records. The checks apply to applicants and recipients of public welfare benefits handled by the departments of health and family services. Agencies must check the listed information before benefits are awarded and at the required application, renewal, quarterly, or monthly intervals. The department must publish aggregate fraud and improper-payment data at least quarterly without personal identifying information. The act states that it takes effect January 1, 2027.

Agencies must verify citizenship or qualifying immigration status for people seeking food, medical, or cash assistance and must report some unverifiable or unlawfully present people to other authorities. The rules cover the supplemental nutrition assistance, Medicaid, and POWER programs, along with their applicants, recipients, and household or assistance-unit members. Applicants generally must use the federal SAVE system or provide acceptable documents such as certified birth certificates, passports, or immigration documents. Medicaid applicants get one federal-law minimum period to provide missing status documents, and coverage during that period is provisional. Hospitals accepting Medicaid must collect status information, tell patients it will not affect care, and submit deidentified reports. Hospital collection requirements begin no later than April 1, 2027; hospital annual reporting begins for calendar year 2027, with state reports beginning April 1, 2028.

The state must use shorter review periods for some food-assistance households, limit Medicaid retroactive coverage to two months for initial applications, and seek legislative approval before waiving work requirements. The rules cover food-assistance households, people making initial Medicaid applications, and adults subject to federal food-assistance work requirements. Food-assistance review periods may be one, two, four, or six months depending on household circumstances, unless federal law prohibits the assigned period. The Medicaid limit affects only initial applications and does not change ongoing eligibility. The state may keep a work-requirement exemption for family caregivers, but other exemptions and waivers require a law passed by the legislature. The Medicaid retroactive-coverage rules must be implemented by January 1, 2027, and the act states that the overall act takes effect January 1, 2027.