Help Close the Gap Now

Closing Utah’s coverage gap would help 45,000* uninsured Utahns gain access to affordable and high-quality health insurance. After three years of study and debate, we are closer than ever before to enacting a solution that works.

But the momentum could falter if the Utah legislature—especially the House of Representatives—can pretend that voters don’t care about this issue.  

We need to convince them that Utah must act to close the coverage gap.

Legislators need to be reminded that:

·         88% of Utah voters prefer the Healthy Utah Plan compared to doing nothing (link);

·         79% of self-described Republican voters support the Healthy Utah Plan (link);

·         Two-thirds of Utahns in the coverage gap are working—many of them at two or more jobs that don’t offer employer sponsored health insurance (link);

·         Adults without kids can’t qualify for Medicaid at any income level in Utah—and parents must earn below 50% of the poverty level (earning below $7,755 for a two-person family) (link); and

·         We want $258 million of Utah taxpayer dollars returned to our state, instead of being sent to expand health coverage in other states (link).

Contact Your Legislators

The eleven legislators listed below serve on the Health Reform Task Force—the gatekeeper committee to all healthcare legislation in Utah. They don’t have to represent you for you to contact them with your opinions on important healthcare policies and legislation.

Email and call them to express your opinions about Utah’s coverage gap and the Governor’s Healthy Utah Plan.

Want to lobby in person? You can attend the next meeting of the Health Reform Task Force this Thursday morning at 9am in Room #30 (basement) of the West-side House Building (agenda) (map)

Legislative Health Reform Task Force Members
Senator	Allen Christensen	achristensen@le.utah.gov	801-782-5600
Representative	Jim Dunnigan	jdunnigan@le.utah.gov	801-840-1800
Representative	Dean Sanpei	dsanpei@le.utah.gov	801-979-5711
Representative	Mike Kennedy	mikekennedy@le.utah.gov	801-358-2362
Representative	Francis Gibson	fgibson@le.utah.gov	801-491-3763
Senator	Stuart Adams	jsadams@le.utah.gov	801-593-1776
Senator	Peter Knudson	pknudson@le.utah.gov	435-730-2026
Representative	Rebecca Edwards	beckyedwards@le.utah.gov	801-554-1968
Representative	Marie Poulson	mariepoulson@le.utah.gov	801-942-5390
Representative	Rebecca Chavez-Houck	rchouck@le.utah.gov	801-891-9292
Senator	Gene Davis	gdavis@le.utah.gov	801-647-8924

Find your own state legislators here—contact them about closing Utah’s coverage gap and the Governor’s Healthy Utah Plan.

There are several ways that you can get involved in the advocacy work that we do!

·         Get updates about the Healthy Utah Plan by joining the email list at Utah Communities for Healthcare Coverage (UCHC)

·         Get updates on your social media streams by liking UCHC on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter (@UC4HC)

Resources:

·         Closing the Coverage Gap in Utah: Health Insurance for Working Individuals and Families (May 2014) (pdf)

·         Healthy Utah Poll (June 2014) (pdf)

·         What is Utah Medicaid? (pdf)

A Note about Numbers:

*Previous Health Matters articles indicated 57,000 Utahns in the coverage gap. Both numbers--57,000 and 45,000---represent different enrollment figures depending on the point in time (year) they are referencing. To be consistent with the Governor’s office we will start using 45,000 Utahns in the gap, which is estimated from the PCG report for the year 2015. The 57,000 number is from the same report, for the year 2020.  

Download this handy PDF to discover which coverage gap number you should use... and when (pdf)