SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Trump administration is approving the first step in Utah lawmakers’ contentious plan for a limited Medicaid expansion.
The Friday decision lets the state to start taking applications Monday. It’s expected to cover 70,000 to 90,000 more people, fewer than an expansion approved by voters in November.
GOP lawmakers say they had to scale back to control costs. But health-care advocates say the move reduces access to needed health care and undermines the vote.
The April 1 expansion will cover people making less than $12,500 for a single person.
The ballot measure would have fully expanded Medicaid to about 150,000 people making less than $17,200 a year.
The state will pay for most of the expansion now, but ask the federal government to increase its share. That’s expected to be a tougher request.
