November 20, 2014
By Troy Wilde,
SALT LAKE CITY – A new report confirms what advocates for children in Utah have been saying for a while now: Expanding Medicaid would help reduce the state’s high rate of uninsured children.
According to the study from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, about 10 percent of Utah kids don’t have health coverage, compared with a national rate of slightly more than 7 percent.
Most states have taken steps to reach out to low-income families through programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the report said. However, Lincoln Nehring, senior health policy analyst for Voices for Utah Children, said Utah lawmakers seem reluctant to spend the money.
“Utah’s a very Republican state,” he said. “State policy leaders are very skeptical of anything done by a Democratic federal government or a Democratic president.”
Expanding Medicaid would qualify more adults for health coverage, and Nehring said they likely would enroll their kids as well. Utah has about 90,000 children without health insurance, although the report found that 5,000 more children have been enrolled since 2010.
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