This might apply only to Utah but could make for an interesting discussion
From today's WSJ (excerpt):
Quote:
Utah Lawmakers Seek to Roll Back Medicaid Expansion Passed by Voters
2 COMMENTS
By Ian Lovett
Feb. 6, 2019 10:01 a.m. ET
Three months after voters in deep-red Utah approved a pair of ballot measures opposed by many Republican leaders, the state legislature is on the verge of pulling both of them back.
In December, the GOP-dominated legislature replaced a voter-approved medical marijuana law with a new version that more tightly controls access to the drug.
And this week, lawmakers are pushing a bill to restrict eligibility for a voter-approved expansion of Medicaid. The bill, which was approved by the Utah Senate on Monday, is becoming a flashpoint in a fight over just how closely state leaders should hew to the will of voters.
Republicans in Utah’s capital say fixes to the Medicaid measure are necessary because the expansion of government health care for the poor would bore a hole in the budget within a few years.
Hundreds of supporters of the ballot measure, meanwhile, have showed up in Salt Lake City to protest.
“What’s going on right now in the Legislature is appalling,” said Paul Gibbs, a filmmaker who volunteered on the campaign to pass Proposition 3, the Medicaid expansion. Noting that many Republican legislators had opposed the Medicaid expansion enabled by Obamacare, he said, “They lost fair and square and now they’re trying to undermine it any way they can.”
Sen. Allen Christensen, sponsor of the Senate bill, said voters “didn’t fill in the proper blanks” when they passed Proposition 3. “We’re filling in those blanks for them,” he said. “They are not obligated to balance the budget. We are.”
Approved by 53% of Utah voters in November, Proposition 3 had Utah join 35 other states that have expanded Medicaid or are doing so in 2019 with partial federal funding under the Affordable Care Act.
The Utah measure would expand Medicaid to cover people with incomes up to 138% of the poverty level, which is around $17,000 for a single person. Approximately 150,000 Utahns were expected to enroll by April 1, according to official estimates. A sales-tax increase approved as part of the ballot measure would fund the expansion.
There are two primary issues here (in my opinion):
1. Is the expansion of State funded health care.
2. Is the issue of representative government. The entire issue of the public voting on legislative agendas (propositions) is part and parcel to how CA has managed to struggle with their budget. Should the legislature be bound by the will of the voters?
