Back to the Real Salt Lake Newsfeed

Gehrke: What Utah wants to do with Medicaid could hurt people nationwide. Here’s how you can weigh in.

It’s hard to believe that just six months ago, Utah voters, through an initiative, put the state on a course to fully expand Medicaid and, in the process, make profound improvements in the lives of 150,000 low-income Utahns.

Then, naturally, the Utah Legislature intervened, defying public sentiment, stripping down the expansion and planting landmines that could not only blow up health care for thousands here, but could — if adopted by the Trump administration — prove catastrophic for Medicaid enrollees across the country.

Last week, Utah submitted a proposal asking the federal government to pay 90 percent of the Medicaid costs for an estimated 90,000 Utahns living below the poverty line (about $1,000 a month for an individual).