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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

State Senate Approves "Healthy Utah" Plan; House is Next

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Thursday, February 26, 2015   

SALT LAKE CITY - Following passage in the state Senate on Wednesday, the Healthy Utah plan, which could provide health coverage for tens of thousands of Utah residents, now faces what some are calling an uphill battle in the House.

Representative Ed Redd (R-Logan) is a physician and supports Healthy Utah, and says he is encouraged by the Senate's action. Redd says he hopes House members will choose pragmatism over politics, and follow the Senate's lead.

"I hope that people see the pragmatic side of this discussion and not just the political side of it," he says. "I hope this is not just a political statement to shut down Governor Herbert or to say, 'We're not going to take federal dollars.'"

Redd says the federal government would cover at least 90 percent of the plan's cost. It could cover tens of thousands of low-income adults who don't qualify for state Medicaid or tax subsidies available through the Affordable Care Act.

A recent report from Voices for Utah Children and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families shows 68 percent of the low-income, uninsured parents that could benefit from the Healthy Utah plan are working, and only eight percent are unemployed. Redd says Healthy Utah can literally save the lives of people with potentially deadly health conditions.

"If they don't have any insurance, they oftentimes don't go to the doctor when they need to," he says. "They don't get the care they need to and their lives are cut short. They end up dying sooner than they would have died otherwise if they'd had some treatment."

The report from Georgetown University also concludes Healthy Utah could help insure more children in the state, because research shows states that extend coverage to parents also reduce the number of uninsured children.


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