Letter: The people want Prop 3, not tax cuts
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Coalition of Religious Community supporters Deb Elstad, left, and Leslie Carey, center, with Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church listened as faith and community leaders demanded full medicaid expansion, Jan. 31, 2019 at the State Office Building, as approved by voters, not the Legislature's push for a different plan, namely SB96 sponsored by Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden. The replacement proposal is functionally similar to the partial Medicaid expansion plan approved by lawmakers last year, which was superseded by the public vote on Proposition 3. In addition to a more narrow pool of eligibility compared to full expansion, Christensen’s bill would impose work requirements on beneficiaries, and would establish an enrollment cap to protect the state against runaway health-care costs.
By Ruth Hoffmann | The Public Forum
| Feb. 5, 2019, 2:28 p.m.
| Updated: 3:24 p.m.
On the same page of The Salt Lake Tribune I read that the Legislature is looking to slash Proposition 3, Medicaid expansion, worried about “long-term costs,” while proposing a $225 million tax cut.
Prop 3, which our citizens want, will serve the most vulnerable, people who have very little and will not benefit from a tax cut. The $225 million tax cut was not something the citizens asked for, and will only benefit those who have plenty all ready.
The $225 million would best be spent for Medicaid, as was voted for, or given to education for funding for more school counselors or school nurses. Right now the state requires one counselor for every 350 students, and the secretary at your child's school is giving him his medications.
I don't see how the legislators can give the "haves" a $225 million tax cut, and ignore the needs of the the vulnerable.
Ruth Hoffmann, Salt Lake City
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