This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Healthy Utah gets through the Senate. Is said to be DPOA (that's Death Panel on Arrival) in the Utah House.

How to make progress? Gov. Gary Herbert may call a special session. A plague of frogs has also been suggested.

Took 10 plagues to get Egyptians to do right thing. Will it work with UT House? Release SB 164!. #utpol pic.twitter.com/CEdYd6i2yc

— Jean Hill (@Jeandioslc) February 26, 2015

"Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes was correct when he said that it would amount to 'human carnage' if the state were to create a system that offered most of us decent access to health care and then, after a couple of years, take it away.

"So he has apparently decided that it would be better to maintain the brutal status quo, the carnage we know, rather than risk what might be a tantalizing sojourn into a First World society we needn't be horribly ashamed of.

"Hughes says he doesn't even plan to give a committee hearing to the bill, passed Wednesday by the Utah Senate, that would authorize Gov. Gary Herbert's Healthy Utah program. That's the long-overdue, much-negotiated and, by many legislators, deliberately misunderstood Utah-only alternative to the Medicaid expansion that was supposed to be part of the federal Affordable Care Act. ..."

House leader on Medicaid expansion: 'We're done' — Kristen Moulton | The Salt Lake Tribune

" ... Hughes said Wednesday there's no point in bringing Healthy Utah to a vote just to kill it. 'We're done with the proposal of Healthy Utah,' he said, keeping the door open for 'a way forward' if someone can come up with an idea that finds support in the House. ..."

Amended Healthy Utah bill deserves House vote — Gov. Gary Herbert Press Office

" ... 'The decision by House leadership to prevent the representatives of the people from hearing public comment – pro or con – and then voting on such an important issue is alarming and should be of significant concern to citizens across our state,' said Gov. Gary R. Herbert. 'All Utahns deserve transparency and accountability from their elected officials, particularly when their inaction is, by default, a vote to give the federal government $800 million per year of Utah taxpayer money while getting almost nothing in return.' ..."

Bishop Wester Statement on support of Healthy Utah legislation — Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City

" ... God has no hands but ours. Our prayers matter, as do our actions in solidarity with the poor. ..."

Healthy Utah would help working parents — Lincoln Nehring | For The Salt Lake Tribune

" ... The fact is uninsured parents account for over one third of the population potentially eligible for health coverage if Utah expands Medicaid. Of those eligible parents, more than two-thirds are working, according to a new report that Voices for Utah Children just released with the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. These uninsured parents are working in jobs as varied as cooks, waitresses, cashiers and carpenters. ..."

Healthy Utah means improving access to care — Sean Mulvihill, M.D. | For The Deseret News

" ... It's unconscionable to write off tens of thousands of low-income Utahns as casualties of the system. Not on my watch. Not when there's something we can do about it. That's why I support the governor's Healthy Utah plan. It is not perfect, but it is the right thing to do to show that we revere life — everyone's lives, and not just those who fall in a certain income bracket and who can afford health insurance."

Understanding Gov. Herbert's 'Healthy Utah' plan — Mark Livingston Donaldson, M.D. | For The Provo Daily Herald

" ... Tax monies, not repatriated, will be used in states that already have a bloated welfare system. We would like to see help for the poor and ill come from volunteers, employers, families, churches, foundations and the kindhearted wealthy. Utah does this more than any other state; yet, we still have those with heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, mental problems, addictions or just hard luck falling through the cracks. To me this is a more compelling argument for Healthy Utah than the financial issues. ..."