SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Senate committee at Utah’s Republican-controlled Legislature has heard but taken no action on a Democrat plan to fully expand Medicaid in Utah.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee considered the bill Friday but moved on to other measures instead of voting on it.
Senate Minority Leader Gene Davis, a Salt Lake City Democrat, sponsors the bill, which seeks to cover more than 120,000 low-income residents.
Under President Barack Obama’s health overhaul, the federal government is offering to cover most of the costs if states expand Medicaid.
Davis, who acknowledges Republicans are unlikely to support the measure, argues the state is missing out on about $4 million in federal money every month it doesn’t choose to expand.
The proposal is one of a handful in the mix at the Legislature this session.
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Online:
SB 272: https://1.usa.gov/1hQnMaN
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