Response to conceptual House Medicaid expansion proposal
SALT LAKE CITY (Feb. 27, 2015) – Marty Carpenter, spokesman for Gov. Gary Herbert, issued the following statement in response to questions about a potential House proposal regarding Medicaid expansion:
“Throughout this process, the governor has been willing to work with the Legislature to improve Healthy Utah. We have now been given a conceptual outline of Rep. Dunnigan's proposal.
“The conservative Healthy Utah bill supported by the governor and the Senate uses $25 million over two years to cover 126,000 people using private insurance. From what we can see so far, the House proposal appears to cost $75 million over the same period and leaves 61,000 people in the gap without adequate coverage. Clearly that would be of concern to the governor.
“The governor still firmly believes the House should give Healthy Utah 2.0 fair and open consideration. Likewise, Gov. Herbert will give Rep. Dunnigan’s proposal due consideration. Together with the Senate, the governor looks forward to working with the House to find a solution in the best interest of those in need of coverage, as well as respecting the Utah taxpayer.”
