Voters expanded Medicaid, but legislators overrule

Utah passed sweeping changes to a voter-approved Medicaid expansion Monday, cutting the number of people covered nearly in half and adding work requirements.

Republican Gov. Gary Herbert signed the plan hours after it cleared the Republican-led Legislature, calling it both “humane and sustainable.”

“This is a dark day for democracy in Utah,” said Andrew Roberts, a spokesman for the group Utah Decides. “State legislators turned their backs on voters and on families in need.”

The lawmakers’ plan would extend Medicaid coverage to an additional 80,000 people, just over half of those that would have been covered under the ballot measure that voters passed in November, Republican Sen. Dan Hemmert said.

Republican Sen. Allen Christensen, who sponsored the changes, said they were needed to control costs.