Case in point, the position of Senate President John Valentine that there is no room in the state's budget to renew Medicaid vision and dental coverage for 65,000 older, blind and disabled Utahns. Or, perhaps more accurately, that there is no consensus among lawmakers to find the necessary $5 million in a budget that had been touted as carrying a $1 billion surplus.
Valentine has some credibility when he talks about the budget. He has been one of the few questioning the irresponsible tide of politicians rushing to cut taxes. But his willingness to give up on this small bit of assistance to some folks in great need, just for the sake of consensus, is not so much civility as weakness.
Beyond the very real human suffering that will result from the July 1 expiration of the vision and dental benefits, the argument that the decision is responsible budgeting is simply not true.
Refusing to spend the necessary $5 million on those benefits will cause the state to turn down three times that much in federal matching funds that would be available. And the refusal to help people a little now only increases the need to help them a lot later.
Refusing to pay to treat dental problems will not only leave people in debilitating pain, but also cause infections that will require other medical treatment. Lack of vision care can leave people who could be helped inexpensively unable to see, increasing their dependence on others and undercutting any ability they might have to earn even a small income of their own.
Gov. Jon Huntsman had been willing to put the issue in the pending file as part of the tax reform agreement he had reached with Valentine and House Speaker Greg Curtis, an agreement that politics and the discovery of some mathematical errors has delayed. But the governor does plan to call the Legislature into special session to fund the expiring dental and vision program.
He should go ahead with that call, and make Valentine and his colleagues stand up and vote down something that no decently run state should fail to provide its citizens.
