SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Protesters against Utah lawmakers’ efforts to scale back a voter-approved Medicaid expansion are blocking the entrance of the House of Representatives as lawmakers debate the bill.
The religious leaders were singing songs like “we shall overcome” as they knelt in front of the doors to the chamber on Friday.
Advocates say the plan to cover 50,000 fewer people than the law that won at the ballot box thwarts the will of the voters and slashes potentially life-saving health care coverage.
But lawmakers say the voter-approved plan doesn’t raise enough money to pay for the expansion long-term, and changes are essential to keep it from eating into other parts of the budget.
The bill that’s moving quickly through the Legislature would require a federal waiver that would be the first of its kind.
