Utah Voters Could Expand Medicaid & Raise Sales Taxes
Vote to see how others feel about this issue
What the Initiative Does
Utah Proposition 3 would require the state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) by providing eligibility to people under age 65 with incomes equal to or below 138 percent of the federal poverty line. To finance the state’s cost of Medicaid expansion, the sales tax would be increased from 4.70 to 4.85 percent.
In Favor
Expanding Medicaid would help more low-income Utah residents without insurance get covered and access the healthcare system.
Opposed
It would be unwise to expand Utah’s Medicaid program, which is already struggling to provide quality care to low-income Utahns.
In-Depth
A group known as Utah Decides Healthcare argued in favor of expanding Medicaid:
“Proposition 3 to expand Medicaid lets Utah voters take control of their healthcare system and decide what is best for their families. Proposition 3 would secure Medicaid and CHIP for tens of thousands of Utahns, ensuring affordable access to doctors and hospitals for our most vulnerable citizens.”
The official argument opposed to Medicaid expansion in Utah was written by 38 Republican Utah lawmakers, who argued in part:
“Utahns expect and deserve a responsible and compassionate solution to care for the most vulnerable among us. Greater access to healthcare for those in need has already been achieved through careful study and consideration. The state, through legislation, has extended Medicaid to the poor and needy in a responsible way that will help people move from poverty to self-reliance, with no new state money. It also allows us to make adjustments to coverage to keep the program from growing to an unsustainable level. Those who suggest that opposing this initiative indicates a lack of compassion are simply wrong. Even those who support a broader social safety net should be wary of this deeply flawed, one-size-fits-all model. We already have a responsible, compassionate Utah solution to care for our most vulnerable. This initiative goes too far.”
Under Obamacare, states were given the ability to expand their Medicaid program to cover individuals earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level with financial assistance from the federal government that decreased over time. From 2014-2016, the federal government covered 100% of the cost of expansion, which dropped to 95% in 2017 and is set to continue decreasing gradually to 90% in 2020.
In 2018, the Utah legislature and governor enacted an alternative, partial expansion of Medicaid that included a work, volunteer, or educational requirement to qualify that would cover about 70,000 people (as opposed to 150,000 under Proposition 3’s full expansion). It requires a federally-approved waiver which likely won’t be approved or denied until after the election.
Proposition 3 made it on the Utah ballot after 147,280 valid signatures were submitted by supporters, exceeding the 113,143 required signatures.
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: iStock.com / LPETTET)
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