As Seema Verma talked to reporters in Salt Lake City on Monday, Taylorsville Republican Rep. Jim Dunnigan abruptly took several steps toward her and held up his hand for a high five. She slapped it. Not to be outdone, Gov. Gary Herbert did the same.
It was a celebration of the federal government’s recent approval of Utah’s Medicaid waiver, meant to cover 4,000 to 6,000 poor adults without children. Verma leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which approved the deal.
But the gesture also showed how Herbert and conservative lawmakers are thrilled to see a new-look Medicaid program under President Donald Trump, one they hope gives states like Utah — which refused to expand Medicaid to tens of thousands of Utahns under President Barack Obama — more flexibility on how to spend federal health care dollars.