This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
So there it is: Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox let the cat out of the thinly-disguised bag when telling legislative Republicans, "We need to start at square one, and square one is we all hate Obamacare. We agree with all of you that this is one of the worst iterations of law to come forward." ("Will Utah's lawmakers take action on Medicaid this session?" Tribune, March 4)
So because they "hate Obamacare" — the law originally would have automatically provided Medicaid and at least a minimum of decent health care to all of those too poor to buy insurance — our politicians will have none of it. They have spent months wasting time and foregoing years of federal funding while tying themselves into knots trying to devise more costly, insufficient, ineffective substitutes so they can at least APPEAR to care about Utah's most needy people. Despicable!
The death and suffering that is sure to continue for many Utahns is on their heads, though, miraculously, that suffering doesn't seem to penetrate those heads at all or they would have simply done the right, and rational, thing long ago.
Linda DeSimone
Park City