A thanks to the U. of U. social work students whose op-ed in the March 31 Tribune asked the above question.
For a primary care doctor caring for poor people, this is not some abstract, political question. In the last six years the Utah Legislature has turned down somewhere between 2 billion and 4 billion (that’s billion with a "B") Utah taxpayer dollars coming back to Utah to pay for health care for the poor. (The exact amount is illusive.) More recently, they have chosen to ignore their constituents’ mandate for a full Medicaid expansion.
Why? Let me give you the legislators stated answers and then what I think are the real reasons.