Utah Legislators Seek Repeal of Medicaid Expansion in Opposition to Voters

Voters in 59% of House and Senate Districts voted in favor of Proposition 3 in November, new breakdown shows

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 25, 2019

Contact:
Matt Slonaker
406-360-2981

On November 6th, 2018, Utah Decided. An analysis of newly released election results out today shows that Proposition 3 won in 59% of House and Senate districts, demonstrating broad bipartisan support among Utah citizens. If the legislature were to vote on Proposition 3, respecting the will of their constituents, it would pass in both the House and Senate. Voters approved fully expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and agreed to pay for it through a small 0.15% sales tax increase on non-food items. 


The attached charts show the full breakdown of constituents' support in both chambers of the Utah legislature:
Matt Slonaker, executive director at UHPP, said "Medicaid expansion has been debated in the legislature for almost 6 years now, and after failing to fully expand, Utahns took things into their own hands, prevailing statewide by almost 70,000 votes. A legislative repeal of Proposition 3, which expands Medicaid, ignores  the will of the people. "

Slonaker continues , "We are not at all surprised to see these numbers. Utahns have strongly supported Medicaid expansion over the years. This data only reaffirms what we already know-- there is broad bipartisan support for Proposition 3's full Medicaid expansion  across the state ."
Media contact:

Stacy Stanford
(801) 718-6130
stacy@healthpolicyproject.org

Matt Slonaker
406-360-2981
matt@healthpolicyproject.org

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