Wyoming Kid Care CHIP and Medicaid for a Grandchild with a Relative Caregiver

Getting a child to the doctor costs money, and many kinship caregivers in Wyoming are grandparents on fixed incomes who did not plan to raise another child. Wyoming's public health coverage programs — Kid Care CHIP and Medicaid — can cover the child's medical, dental, and vision expenses. But enrolling a child in coverage and having the authority to consent to treatment are two separate things.

Kid Care CHIP

Wyoming's Children's Health Insurance Program (Kid Care CHIP) covers children in families with incomes too high for Medicaid but too low to afford private insurance. It covers:

• Doctor visits and preventive care
• Prescriptions
• Dental care
• Vision care
• Mental health services
• Hospitalizations

To apply, submit an application through the WY Medicaid/CHIP Web Portal or another Wyoming Department of Health application channel. For Kid Care CHIP, the Department bases eligibility on the parents' income; for Child MAGI Medicaid, the state handbook says household rules are based on the tax-filer household.

Medicaid

Children from lower-income households may qualify for Medicaid directly. Medicaid covers a broader range of services and has lower or no cost-sharing. The application process uses the WY Medicaid/CHIP Web Portal, and the Department of Health determines which program the child qualifies for under its eligibility rules.

POWER Caretaker Relative Program

If the child is in informal kinship care and the parents are not in the same home, they may be eligible for cash assistance through Wyoming's POWER Caretaker Relative program (Personal Opportunities With Employment Responsibilities). The program provides cash assistance to relatives, including grandparents, aunts, and uncles, who are the primary caregivers.

A POWER Caretaker Relative grant provides monthly cash assistance for the child. The program counts the child's income and resources, not the caretaker relative's. A caretaker may volunteer for the POWER Work Program; if they do, they must follow its work requirements.

Apply through the local Department of Family Services (DFS) office. You will need to document that the child lives with you and that the parent is absent or unable to provide care.

Older Relative Caregiver (ORC) Program

If you are 55 or older and raising a grandchild or related child age 17 or younger, you may qualify for the Older Relative Caregiver program administered through the Wyoming Department of Health Aging Division. ORC support is available in select counties — Johnson, Laramie, and Sheridan — and can include:

• Respite care
• Counseling services
• Minor home modifications (capped at $400 per grant year)

The ORC program does not provide legal authority, medical consent forms, or school enrollment documents. It is a support program, not a legal status.

Coverage Is Not Consent

This is the gap that trips up many kinship caregivers: having insurance coverage for a child does not give you the legal authority to consent to the child's treatment.

A doctor's office can bill Medicaid or Kid Care CHIP for a visit while still requiring consent from a parent or court-appointed guardian before performing the examination. These are separate legal questions:

• Who pays = the insurance program
• Who authorizes treatment = someone with legal consent authority

If you take a child to the pediatrician with a Medicaid card but no parental delegation or guardianship order, the clinic may refuse to see the child for anything beyond emergency care. The insurance card gets them coverage; it does not get them through the intake process.

What You Need Alongside Coverage

To make the coverage usable, you also need one of:

• A notarized parental delegation specifically naming medical consent (accepted at provider discretion)
• A temporary guardianship order under W.S. §§ 3-2-301–303, which appoints a relative to make educational, medical-care, and dental-care decisions within the order's scope
• Full guardianship under Title 3, Chapter 2

The temporary guardianship order is the most straightforward solution — it appoints a relative to make medical, dental, and educational decisions within the order's scope.

Getting Both Pieces in Place

Our Wyoming School and Medical Consent Guide walks through both the benefits enrollment process and the consent authority process together, because most kinship caregivers need to handle both at the same time.

See more Wyoming guides →