On Saturday, several state representatives held a town hall in Logan to explain UtahAccess+. The meeting was mostly informational, with time given for constituents to air their concerns. Much of the discussion centered on the expected costs of the program.
Medicaid expansion costs are shared by the federal government and the states. By creating an alternative plan, Utah would agree to pay a higher share of the cost, in exchange for more flexibility. Logan Republican Curt Webb said that UtahAccess+ stands a good chance of being approved by the federal government.
“The things that we’ve been told ‘Absolutely not’ on, we’ve not included in the plan,” Webb said. “If the government is hedged at all, and says, ‘That may work,’ or ‘You can try that,’ then lots of these little pieces that we put in really fall in that category. I think there is a reasonable chance that the federal government will accept what’s been crafted.”
Legislative Republicans will hold a caucus meeting Tuesday to determine whether the plan has enough votes to pass. There are concerns about a potential “woodwork” effect, where people who qualify for Medicaid but did not sign up before the ACA will suddenly inflate enrollment numbers. Webb said that this may not be a problem for Utah.
“You have to take that Utah’s healthcare is different than almost anywhere else in the nation. We just have kind of a different attitude toward healthcare. That’s why our costs are lower,” he said. “I think that the woodwork effect is probably going to be less—that’s just my gut feeling—in Utah than it has been elsewhere. When we talk about the woodwork effect tripling the amount of people that sign up, I’m not convinced that Utah would be that high.”
There are currently 65,000 adults caught in the coverage gap who don’t qualify for traditional Medicaid and can’t afford subsidized private plans.
