Wyoming employers participating in the state’s workers’ compensation program will experience a 15% break in premiums next year, the third rate reduction in as many years. 

That will result in a combined annual savings of $66 million, according to the Department of Workforce Services. Employers in good standing, and with three or more years in the program, may enjoy even bigger savings.

“By lowering workers’ compensation costs, we are helping employers invest in their workforce, strengthen their operations and continue to build safe, resilient workplaces across our state,” Gov. Mark Gordon said in a statement announcing the rate reduction.

All employers of businesses in Wyoming classified as “extra hazardous” are required to participate in the state’s workers’ compensation program, which is administered by the Department of Workforce Services. Others may voluntarily enroll, which typically entitles them to legal immunity for workplace injuries. The program is funded by premiums paid by employers to cover lost wages and medical bills for their employees who are injured on the job.

Wyoming is one of the few states that does not offer workers’ compensation benefits to undocumented workers.

$2.8 billion fund

The state can afford to offer lower premiums, Workforce Services Director Elizabeth Gagen suggested, because “Wyoming’s strong safety culture and responsible business practices are paying off, creating lasting benefits for both our workforce and our economy.” 

A September report to the Legislature’s Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee indicates the workers’ compensation fund is growing at a rate that surpasses expenditures and liabilities.

“The average annual rate of return on the [workers’ compensation] investment portfolio over the past five years is approximately 6.8%,” Workforce Services Deputy Director Jason Wolfe told WyoFile via email. “Coupled with year-over-year declines in the number of injuries, as shown in the report, and sound cost containment and case management strategies, this means we’re typically spending a bit less than we’re making.”

The state’s workers’ compensation fund has risen steadily from $1.8 billion in 2015 to more than $2.8 billion at the end of fiscal year 2025, according to the state’s report. During the same period, annual claim expenditures have grown from $178 million to nearly $194 million.

Critics dispute safety claims

Worker advocates question assertions that expenditures remain moderate due to safe workplaces and a decline in work-related injuries. They say not all injuries are reported, while pointing to Wyoming’s chronic worst- or among-the-worst workplace fatality rates in the nation. 

Yes, Wyoming’s workers’ compensation program works well when it comes to acute injuries with an easily defined recovery prognosis, some say. But the state tends to fight against expensive and prolonged claims related to things like back injuries, chronic pain and illnesses.

Any notion that Wyoming’s flush workers’ compensation fund is due to a strong workplace safety track record is “bullshit,” Wyoming AFL-CIO Executive Director Marcie Kindred said.

“I mean, we may have [fewer] claims,” Kindred told WyoFile, “but we still kill more people than any other state.” And she suggested that the state’s moderate workers’ compensation expenses might derive from Wyoming’s bootstraps mentality, which discourages injured workers from making a claim or fighting a challenge to a claim.

“I’m just picturing my guys having to, again and again, go to hearings and court cases in front of anybody in power and say, ‘I need help,’” Kindred continued. “It’s insurmountable, and it’s hard to get people to admit they need help.”

Asked to respond to such criticism, Wolfe, of workforce services, said, “The evidence actually shows our denial rate of claims to be fairly steady, with a slight decline over the last five years. The denial rate is approximately 5%-6% of annual claims.”

“Because the state is not a for-profit insurance company, it is perfectly appropriate to make sure that Wyoming businesses are paying a fair amount,” Lawyers and Advocates for Wyoming Director Mark Aronowitz told WyoFile. 

“At the same time,” Aronowitz continued, “I believe that ‘sound cost containment and case management strategies’ should include a detailed analysis of all workplace fatalities and serious injuries in order to prevent similar incidents from ever occurring again.”

That type of deliberate, all-inclusive analysis is not happening in Wyoming, according to worker advocates. 

“Resources wisely spent on injury prevention could help save the fund, and employers, millions of dollars over time,” Aronowitz added, “while, more importantly, reducing our perennially unacceptably high workplace fatality rate.”

CAMPBELL COUNTY, Wyo. — Rural EMS agencies across Wyoming are struggling to keep ambulances on the road amid an estimated $30 million annual funding gap, forcing crews to run high-mileage rigs over long highway stretches with little backup.

In Campbell County, one 2003 ambulance with roughly 300,000 miles on it lost a wheel while transporting a patient, an incident local leaders point to as a symbol of how close to the edge rural EMS has drifted, Cowboy State Daily reported.

|MORE: 10 things rural EMS providers need to consider

Because Wyoming does not classify EMS as an essential service, counties aren’t required to fund ambulance operations. Many services survive on a tenuous mix of small tax subsidies, grants, billing revenue and volunteer labor, even as call volumes climb and vehicle replacement costs soar.

A bill to declare EMS an essential service failed in 2023 after the Joint Health and Social Services Committee declined to advance it. Opponents warned that without new state funding, the mandate could shift costs onto local governments.

Winter only magnifies the risk. Crews face extended response times, icy roads and long transports between small towns and regional hospitals.

“The challenges that EMS faces during the winter months include but are not limited to: rapidly changing conditions, increased call volume, extended call times, and the difficulties that come with attempting to traverse the long lonely highways of Wyoming at all hours of the day with potential limited visibility, slick road conditions, and the fear of breaking down while on the road,” Campbell County Health Ambulance Services Director Shane Kirsch said.

Wyoming’s vast rural landscape means ambulance crews often have few backup options if something goes wrong on the road. Kirsch noted that long interfacility transfers can leave units on isolated stretches of highway for miles between towns and hospitals if equipment fails or a patient’s condition suddenly worsens.

As state leaders revisit the question of EMS funding and essential-service status, agency directors warn that the system can’t withstand many more failures, mechanical or otherwise. Without stable support, they say, Wyoming’s rural ambulance services will continue operating on borrowed time, leaving patients and providers increasingly vulnerable.

If your state does not consider EMS an essential service, how has that impacted your agency?

LARAMIE COUNTY, Wyoming — A three-day operation targeting undocumented commercial drivers conducted in the Wyoming county of Laramie has led to the arrest of 40 criminal aliens, Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak announced on Facebook Friday.

The operation involved the sheriff’s office, the Wyoming Highway Patrol, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to Kozak’s video post.

Kozak said law enforcement agents conducted 195 traffic stops and 133 commercial vehicle inspections, leading to 44 trucks and 38 drivers being taken out of service.

Deputies and agents targeted rural Laramie County roads, as, according to Kozak, undocumented commercial drivers often use those roads to avoid official inspection ports along the interstate.

“Our focus was to apprehend undocumented drivers, which tarnished the good reputation of professional commercial drivers who keep America moving,” Kozak said in the Facebook video.

Kozak said one of the arrested individuals had a previous conviction for sexual assault and had been deported twice.