It looks like Utah Governor Gary Herbert’s Medicaid expansion is dead. From an AP report carried by the Baltimore Sun:
Governor’s Medicaid expansion plan may have hit dead end
Gov. Gary Herbert’s trimmed-down plan for expanding Medicaid appears to have hit a dead end at the state Capitol.
Hours after the Republican governor’s plan earned key approval in the state Senate, Republican House Speaker Greg Hughes said Wednesday afternoon that the GOP-dominated House will not consider the governor’s plan because it has no support.
“If you don’t have the votes, I don’t know the point of moving a bill through,” Hughes said at a news conference.
He noted that there are two weeks left before lawmakers adjourn…
With a little luck, this latest rejection will help solidify the message to President Obama and his allies that if they really want to expand medical coverage to more people, they’re going to have to abandon Obamacare as a one-size-fits-all program and come to the table willing to accept more market-oriented reforms.
Sean Parnell ([email protected]) is a research fellow for health policy at The Heartland Institute.
