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The Alliance for a Better Utah has targeted a pointed online website and mailer at two Utah lawmakers for their roles in "blocking" Gov. Gary Herbert's Healthy Utah plan.
A new website launched Wednesday criticizing Rep. Jim Dunnigan and Sen. Allen Christensen — Republican co-chairmen of Utah's Health Care Task Force and two legislators who are sponsoring alternatives to Herbert's proposal.
The page features a photo of "the Jensens" — a smiling family of four — who don't have health insurance.
Dunnigan and Christensen, the Alliance website says, "blocked Governor Herbert's popular Healthy Utah Plan to advance their own plan, so families like the Jensens don't have access to
to healthcare.
"It doesn't add up," the statement continues.
Similar mailers have been sent out to Dunnigan and Christensen's constituents in Taylorsville and North Ogden. And the Alliance has issued an action alert for its members.
"I would hope that my constituents understand the work that I've put in on this the last couple years trying to find the right path, trying to work with the governor's office, trying to work with the federal government," Dunnigan said.
"I am comfortable that I am trying to find the right policy to help Utahns," he added. "I haven't said no to Healthy Utah. I haven't said yes. We're still actively working on it."
Dunnigan said he'd already gotten a call from Lieutenant Gov. Spencer Cox saying the Alliance mailer and website was "not helpful, it was hurtful and did not help the dialogue."
And Christensen countered that his plan tries to direct health care funding to the most needy Utahns.
"There's a ton of money at stake here," he said. "My plan is to give it to those who are medically frail, who really, truly need it. And if I give it to all the other people who could get by without it, I'm taking it right out of the pockets of some other people who are truly needy."
Herbert's plan is supported by 88 percent of Utahns, according to the Alliance flier, and will cover 146,000 people. Insurance premiums would stay low under the governor's plan. And the "Jensens" would be covered.
In contrast, Utah voters have not weighed in on Dunnigan and Christensen's plan, which covers just 15,900 people, the Alliance says. Premiums would go up. And the lawmakers' plan "covers addicts, not families."
Those who would undermine plans to provide health care to the most Utahns, Alliance Director Maryann Martindale said, should be held accountable.
"Dunnigan and Christensen have ignored their constituents and imperiled the health of thousands of Utah families by blocking Governor Herbert's Healthy Utah Plan," Martindale said in a statement. "We hope Utahns will take note of their actions and respond by voicing their support for Healthy Utah. All Utahns, regardless of how much they earn, should have access to affordable health insurance."
Dunnigan suggested the Alliance's tactics may be a reason they "don't have a seat at the table. It doesn't help."