Deseret News
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Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY Citing a rising rate in the number of uninsured children 87,000 in Utah two lawmakers are hoping the state will open its wallet to fund efforts to get health care coverage for all kids.
“We are a state that deeply cares for kids,” SB158 sponsor Senate Minority Whip Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, said Tuesday during a virtual news conference with lawmakers and the nonprofit group Voices for Utah Children.
And yet “we have one of the highest rates of uninsurance when it comes to children,” she said.
| Updated: Feb. 11, 2021, 10:54 p.m.
Community leaders, families and some Utah lawmakers are speaking out in support of two bills aimed at making health insurance more accessible to all Utah children.
Utah currently has one of the highest rates of uninsured children, with about 87,000 kids who aren’t covered. Organizations like the Utah Health Policy Project have been concerned about the continuously rising uninsured rate, particularly among Hispanic children. 2018 marked the 30th year row in which Utah had the highest rate of uninsured Latino children in the nation, at 90%.
SB158, sponsored by Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, would ensure that all Utah children whose family income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level would get access to Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), depending on their income bracket.
Behind The Headlines 1/22/21
The 2021 Utah legislative session kicks off under unusual circumstances. Among the many items up for consideration are several police reform measures and an effort to put pressure on schools to resume in-person classes. Plus, a new president means a significant change in public lands policy, and a likely reversal of strategy for two Utah national monuments. And Camp Last Hope, a new kind of homeless encampment, takes shape in Salt Lake City. UPR Partners
Experts from UHPP break down Utah health policy Eli Kirshbaum | Jan 18, 2021
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Utah had the highest increase in Medicaid enrollment in the entire country last year, according to Courtney Bullard, the education and collaborations director for the Utah Health Policy Project (UHPP). Stacey Stanford, UHPP’s health policy analyst, joined Bullard on a panel at UHPP’s annual Health Care Solutions for Utahns conference to discuss Utah’s evolving health policy and its response to COVID-19.
Stanford said there are 207,371 Utahns enrolled through the open marketplace in 2021 a number that’s been steadily increasing over the past three years. This signifies an increased need for health care because the state initially anticipated a decrease in open enrollment with the expansion of Medicaid in 2020, according to Stanford. It turns out the opposite was true.