Public News Serice

By: Katherine Davis-Young

The rate of people without health insurance in rural Utah communities is far higher than the rate in cities, but a recent report suggests that expanding Medicaid would change that. According to the report, Utah’s urban-rural uninsured gap is among the widest in the country; 31 percent of rural Utahns lack health insurance, compared with 20 percent of city dwellers.

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The report, from Georgetown University and the University of North Carolina, showed that states that have expanded access to Medicaid have seen drops in uninsured rates three times higher than states that opted not to do so. Utahns will vote Nov. 6 on a ballot measure to expand Medicaid access through federal funding and a small sales-tax increase. Opponents of the proposition have warned of high costs, but report co-author Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, said expanding Medicaid comes with a number of economic benefits – from shoring up rural hospitals and clinics to healthier communities.

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