This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
We read with disbelief the House Republican leaders' proposal for uninsured Utahns. They are suggesting that we refuse $800 million in federal Medicaid money that could be used to provide medical care for the struggling and the helpless ("Herbert calls House Medicaid plan 'illogical'," Tribune, Feb. 19).
Speaker Becky Lockhart's reason for doing so defies logic. She wants to "avoid getting more and more attached to an unsustainable revenue source." Assuming that her "unsustainable" premise is accurate, that is like parents of a dying child refusing to accept an inheritance to pay for a lifesaving operation, because it is a one-time offer.
Let's call this as we see it. The GOP leadership is willing to let our poor children suffer and die for the sole reason of proving President Obama's plan doesn't work. Rather, they are proposing that we take $35 million from other sources (i.e. education?) to pathetically ration out health care.
They somehow think that 54,000 Utahns can get by medically on less than 5 percent of the money the federal government is offering our state. Legislators, remember, these are our children that we are relegating to suffering to prove a point. Hopefully the Senate will consider the lunacy of this proposal and accept the federal offering.
Randy and Tammy Richards
Salt Lake City