Leaders of the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes are lobbying the state legislature to approve a demonstration project that would expand access to Medicaid coverage on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

The tribes have the ear of Rep. Elaine Harvey (R-Lovell), co-chair of the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Interim Committee. Harvey’s original position on Medicaid expansion was across-the-board opposition, at least in the short term.

Now she has begun to champion a private-market expansion that would allow Medicaid eligible people to buy insurance in the new health-insurance marketplace run by the federal government under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. But she is also willing to consider the tribes’ call for Medicaid expansion on the reservation.

“The tribes deserve to be heard,” said Harvey. “I’m listening. I would be open to a demonstration project.”

The tribes’ proposal comes at a time when the Northern Arapaho tribe has received major grants to expand medical facilities on the reservation. A $1.1 million grant to the Northern Arapaho Housing Authority will pay for additional examination rooms, laboratory technology and pharmacy services at the 100-year-old Indian Health Service building in Fort Washakie. A brand new community health center built with additional grant money will open in Arapahoe on September 12.

“This is part of an overall strategy to promote a healthier community,” said Patrick Goggles, chair of the Housing Authority and a member of the state House of Representatives. Goggles notes that the Arapahoe area has always lacked easy access to tribal medical services.