Utah Senate Democrats Statement on Medicaid Expansion

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Senate Democrats issued the following statement on the Trump administration’s plans to reject Utah’s waiver request for the partial Medicaid expansion that passed the Legislature earlier this year:

Last November, Utah’s voters passed Proposition 3, granting full Medicaid expansion to Utah’s families earning 138% of the federal poverty level or less ($26,900 for a family of three). The voters of this state made it clear that it was their will to close the coverage gap affecting 80,000 Utahns. The passage of Prop 3 was a clear message that the time had come for full Medicaid expansion. Despite this, the Legislature passed SB96. During the debate over this bill, the Senate Democrats stood firmly on the side of voters and made it clear that any attempt to replace Prop 3 with a substitute that required a series of unprecedented waivers was certain to be unsuccessful.

It has been confirmed that, as predicted by our caucus and so many others, Utah’s waiver application has been denied by the Trump administration. The time has come to respect the voters’ intent by implementing the fallback provisions in SB96 as quickly as possible.

# # #