When lawmakers left the hill at the end of the 2015 session, they gave themselves a deadline of July 31 to come up with a plan for Medicaid expansion. Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox says, they're getting closer, but they may have to push that deadline into August.
"We'll be close," says Cox. "We are working toward a solution. I feel confident that we're going to come up with something that works for everybody. It won't make everyone happy, but we will come to a solution very soon."
Cox is part of the so-called "group of six" tasked to find a Medicaid expansion compromise. That group became necessary after House and Senate lawmakers reached an impasse on the topic.
Cox says people shouldn't worry too much as the July 31 deadline shouldn't slide too much if at all.
"I think all along this was a self-imposed deadline. It's important we get everybody on board. If that takes us to August, I'm not worried about that."
Cox says the group is getting close to agreement on the "broad concepts" of the plan they want to present to the Obama administration.
One of the things holding up negotiations with the Obama administration was the King v. Burwell case before the Supreme Court, which challenged whether subsidies to purchase health insurance on the federal exchanges were constitutional. The Court ruled 6-3 last week to uphold the subsidies. Cox said that case was casting some uncertainty over Utah's negotiations with the Department of Health and Human Services. Now that the Court has ruled, Cox says he expects negotiations to move ahead.
