GOP lawmakers jump to reject Medicaid expansion

Health care » Advocates and many lawmakers blindsided by abrupt bill switch.

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"The final decision is the governor’s, but we do need to have a public policy discussion here."

But Anderegg said the cost estimate relied on "slightly disingenuous accounting," since the federal dollars cannot last, given the national debt burden.

"I think this is a bad check in bad faith that we’re being expected to follow," he said. "This is a step forward toward socialized medicine."

Rep. Jon Stanard, R-St. George, supported Anderegg’s bill rejecting the Medicaid dollars, because he said the Legislature needs to make its wishes known.

"If we do not pass this bill out tonight, as a Legislature, we are completely delegating to the governor," he said. "This is our only ability, as a Legislature, to assert our views."

Hilman said her group and others will fight Anderegg’s bill with everything they have as it goes to the House floor.

"I’m confident we can fight this in the House and what we’re going to lean on are the same arguments we tried to make here," she said. "We need to slow down and look at the [data] and we need a deliberate process."

gehrke@sltrib.com

Twitter: @RobertGehrke

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