Utah got its Medicaid waiver Friday morning, meaning come Monday – April 1 – the state will start its own “bridge plan” to Medicaid expansion as adopted by the Legislature back in February.
“Well, we got it!” a pleased Rep. Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, told UtahPolicy around 11 a.m.
While Dunnigan and others always thought the waiver would come, it was still possible that the federal CMS agency wouldn’t give it in time for the Legislature’s rewrite of Prop 3 could take effect as promised.
Immediately, said Dunnigan, about 17,000 Utahns that were on the PCN – private, subsidized health insurance – will be moved over to Medicaid.
And, over time, it is anticipated another 70,000 low income folks (up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level) will sign up for Medicaid as well.
You can read UtahPolicy’s analysis of what would happen if the waiver HAD NOT been given, published yesterday, here.
The Utah Department of Health issued a chart on Friday shortly after the approval was granted detailing Utah’s plan. You can see it below.
