Senate Bill 96, the bill that replaced full Medicaid expansion as outlined in Prop 3, was signed into law this week. Where does the lawmaker who ran the bill come down after its two-week sprint through the Utah Legislature?
An analysis by Utah Health Policy Project, an organization that helped orchestrate Prop 3, shows that State Senate District 19, which includes a small portion of Summit County, supported Prop 3 with 54% of the vote. So, why did District 19 Sen. Allen Christensen decide to carry SB 96? Christensen says initiative processes are “take it or leave it,” and because he believes the funding model for Prop 3 was flawed, SB 96 was necessary to sustain some form of Medicaid expansion down the road.
Despite the support for Prop 3 by his constituents, Christensen doesn’t seem to be concerned about how that might affect his re-election. He says, if people understand what the bill does, they’ll be pleased with the outcome.
“We made some long-term savings and had to put some short-term expenditures in there, but our main job is we have to balance the budget here in this state," Christensen said. "We’re not putting money before people, we’re trying to fix the laws, so that they truly represent what the people want.”
SB 96 is projected to cost $72 million dollars in the first two years of implementation. The problem, Christensen says, is that the cost depends on when—or if—the federal government approves the state’s waiver requests for funding the limited expansion. Until the waivers are approved, the state will be spending a larger portion of its budget on Medicaid. Christensen is confident the first waiver will be approved by the scheduled April 1 start date for SB 96, but he says, as with anything, there are no certainties.
“Any budget that you do out there, including your own home budget, you have to take a leap of faith and say, 'I anticipate that I’m really going to have a job tomorrow, and the next day, and a year from now, and so I’m going to budget accordingly,'" Christensen said. "That’s what these waivers are doing—we give them the best shot that we can, and then sit back and hope for the best.”
During hearings for SB 96, Christensen expressed that he was “philosophically opposed” to Medicaid expansion. He says when people rely on government services, the government has more control over their lives. SB 96 will support the most vulnerable populations, he says, and allow able-bodied adults to be more self-sufficient.
“I would like to encourage people to get off of public support in any way that I can, and putting more people on public support, even if it’s just through their health care, in many areas is damning to that person.”
Christensen is also sponsoring a bill that would provide dental coverage to elderly Medicaid patients. Patients would receive care from the University of Utah dental school, which Christensen says has agreed to cover the state’s portion of the costs. As the Legislature’s only dentist, Christensen said he was passionate about the issue.
