[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Healthy Utah is the best choice Utah can make in the wake of the Affordable Care Act.

You may not have heard about Healthy Utah, but last Wednesday, Capitol Hill witnessed a rare alliance between health care providers and Utah’s business, mining and manufacturing communities, who all rallied behind Governor Gary Herbert’s Healthy Utah plan.

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There are many opponents to Medicaid not only because they find it perpetuates support for Obama, but also because it uses citizens’ tax dollars to assist those below the poverty level. Many feel that this encourages recipients to not look for jobs or to not work in order to remain below the poverty level for Medicaid. However, Healthy Utah is a plan which expands eligibility beyond the poverty level so that those people who are working hard and still struggling can obtain a private health plan without feeling like they need to make a choice between poverty with government support, or continuing to work towards prosperity while still being able to handle health issues that arise.

The strongest opposition to Healthy Utah comes from legislators who are ignoring the overwhelming support of their constituents for Healthy Utah. They prefer to make this an anti-Obama administration issue and disregard the thousands of Utahns who fall in the gap of non-coverage because they are not below the poverty level. The lead opponent, State Sen. Allen Christensen (R-North Ogden), has put forward an alternative bill which has been dubbed the “medically frail” plan. This plan is concerned only with choosing the least expensive route. Under this plan, only those who are completely below the poverty level and in absolute need due to medical fragility or impending disability can get coverage. So no preventative allowances if you cannot afford it yourself. One must wait until the state has deemed you medically frail enough to receive assistance. This medically frail threshold is problematic because we will see endless debates in the legislature year after year to define this threshold.

Those actively opposing Healthy Utah seem to be doing it simply to ‘stick it to the man.’ They draw correlations to Obamacare and claim this is just another example of a government overreach. They believe the unemployed should not benefit from the taxes of those who are working hard. Due to the Affordable Care Act, states must either expand Medicaid fully or come up with their own plan. Utah has decided on the latter with Healthy Utah vs Frail Utah. Keep in mind that Healthy Utah would start off as a three-year pilot program to see how it works. It is also the plan that would get the most of our tax money back from the federal government, returning $3.2 billion federal tax dollars to our state through Healthy Utah and only $611 million through Frail Utah.

While I believe in fighting for greater causes in government, I find the opponents to Healthy Utah inconsiderate and disillusioned. Since when did sticking it to the man also mean hurting those who are out of their luck and struggling? If you feel that the country has been dealt a bad hand with the Affordable Care Act, many understand. But stop making Healthy Utah an issue of Obama-pandering or Obama-hating. If your fight is with Obamacare, opposing Healthy Utah does not win that war. Even if the federal government pulls its support for Medicaid, it most likely will not be effective for years to come. In the meantime, we need to act. Healthy Utah is the best plan that will play into the federal government’s Medicaid expansion requirements while returning to Utah the greatest portion of our taxes to benefit a larger group of people than Medicaid can. This is an obvious case of the benefits outweighing the costs and making the effective decision over the childish tantrum.

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