“No. Absolutely not. Hell, no. The Utah Legislature should not — must not — touch one provision, clause or comma of Proposition 3.” – Salt Lake Tribune editorial, Jan. 13.
And yet, this is exactly what’s being attempted. At the moment, it’s Utah Sen. Allen Christensen who has proposed adding the kind of work requirements that, in Arkansas, effectively removed 80 percent of newly qualified individuals from Medicaid. Who knows what it will be in this case, or the next one, or the next one.
Sunday’s editorial makes clear that these efforts are not only undemocratic but foolish. I would personally add “offensive.”
Prop 3 was smartly, even brilliantly, drafted to ensure health care coverage for Utah’s poor, adding extra funding protections in case of unprojected, unlikely increases in utilization. Now our conservative overlords want to add amendments that will undermine the spirit — and impact — of the entire law.
We must not stand idle while ideologues in the Utah Legislature work to overturn the will of the people. They don’t have better solutions than what was originally drafted. Just endless creativity in their ideas for killing it.
Andrew Graft, West Jordan