Once-reluctant supporters of Utah’s partial approach to expanding Medicaid, many advocates for the state’s low-income, homeless and disabled residents now fear a new set of limits on the expansion will harm rather than help.
State officials recently modified their original August 2016 proposal under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, to extend health care coverage to many Utahns who are chronically homeless or in need of mental-health or drug addiction services.
Their additions — which, like the original, still awaits federal approval — includes new co-pays, a five-year lifetime cap on benefits and a 30-hour work requirements for able-bodied adults — requirements that advocates say will reduce even further the number of Utah’s most vulnerable who could receive care.