It took bending to the will of the Legislature, but Huntsman succeeded - for now. Whether the new bill he persuaded Senate Majority Leader Peter Knudson to carry has a chance of passing both the House and Senate during today's special legislative session is still uncertain.

"I haven't polled every member of the Senate," acknowledged Knudson of the latest draft.

Due to a misunderstanding over funding, Knudson was poised Tuesday to renege on a promise to sponsor legislation. Knudson was willing to reshuffle $2 million of existing state Health Department funds to pay for the dental services, but balked at authorizing new money, which he learned was Huntsman's wish.

After some negotiating and money-crunching, however, Huntsman agreed to cannibalize existing Health Department funds and Knudson agreed to sponsor the bill. Health officials project the Medicaid program will be under budget by at least $2 million. All they need is the Legislature's authorization to spend it on dental services and draw down a federal match of $4.8 million.

"We're pleased with the progress on this issue and hope legislators will concur with our assessment that this is an important need worth addressing," said the governor's spokesman, Mike Mower. "We have narrowly focused this on those who most desperately need this help."

But Huntsman has angered some lawmakers who say he is circumventing the regular budget process.

"In essence the message here is, if you don't get everything you want from the Legislature, then put pressure on the governor," said Syracuse Republican Sheldon Killpack, Senate chairman of the Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee.

Dental care failed to make the committee's spending list for good reason, said Killpack. "When the federal government is pushing more costs onto the states and we're seeing massive increases in health care spending, at some point someone has to start asking questions - how do we stabilize this program?"

As it is, some Utah doctors are refusing to accept new Medicaid clients, because the government-funded insurance pays well below market rates, Killpack said.

Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, said the special session was intended to fix minor technical issues. But Huntsman's call for emergency Medicaid funding is a different animal. It's something that the Legislature chose not to pass that Huntsman is bringing up again.

"It came out of nowhere," Lockhart said. "It's very difficult to know where the House members will fall on this."

Huntsman isn't without support.

Rep. Steve Mascaro will sponsor Knudson's bill in the House, and said however the Medicaid need is paid for, it's a relatively small amount of money.

"We are talking about pocket change," said the West Jordan Republican.

Activist Andrew Wriggle said even advocates for the poor were surprised to see the governor reopening the debate on Medicaid. If nothing else, Huntsman has won respect in that quarter, Wriggle said. "You've got to give him credit. It took some courage to put it on the call" for a special session.

Bill Tibbetts at Crossroads Urban Center, the state's largest food bank, said advocates will assemble at the Capitol today to "track how legislators vote."

"The average Senate district in Utah has over 2,000 adults who will be impacted by this issue and all of those people have friends and family," Tibbetts said in a statement. "We can educate voters this summer and fall about which legislators care about low-income people's basic health and which don't care if people needlessly suffer and die."

An estimated 45 states provide some dental care to Medicaid beneficiaries, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. About half of those offer emergency services only.